When We Were Young
by Natarii-loves-Chocolate-milk
Summary: An Idiot, a Bastard, a Lazy Ass, and a Piggy. Throw in a pervert, and a Cyclops and what happens? Absoloute Insanity. Just stayy of the Bastards Roof. GOD DAMN POLITICS! STOP CRAMPING MY STYLE! Ramen Forever. NaruIno. ShikaTema. SasuKarin.
1. Three Stooges, A Piggy, And a Roof

_**If I owned naruto no one would ever get any fighting done because Naruto and Sasuke would just have butt-sex all the time and thus, there would be no plotline. Suck on that you lawyer Bastards!**_

_**WARNING: Serious swearing kiddies. Dont copy Natarii and dont swear okay? I dont to be hunted by angry parents. In the slightly edited words of Shikamaru, that would be too fucking troublesome.**_

* * *

"Missed me suckers!"

A small blond boy of about five years old pulled down his bottom of his left eyelid, sticking his tongue out at the villagers he had just dodged.

"Get back here you little brat!"  
"Make me Asswipe!"

Naruto hurried through the streets of Konoha. He was not sure how he had managed to turn over the fruit stall but it did not change the fact he had done it. It wasn't his fault he was clumsy!

Any passers by watching the scene just rolled their eyes.  
Naruto's clumsiness got him into trouble at least once a week. And the villagers weren't going to pass up on a whiplash-free opportunity to chase the 'monster' It was a fairly common sight to see the small blonde running through the streets of Konoha with a small mob behind him.

They never caught him though.  
He knew the back streets and shortcuts better than some of the Jonin.

He turned a corner and jumped onto a fire escape on the wall of a hotel. After quickly climbing up it, he made his way back towards his apartment over the rooftops. He knew the route well enough to do it blind folded, but Naruto had always been unpredictable (According to the old man at any rate), and today was no exception to that rule.

Upon jumping over the roofs of the Uchiha compound, he stumbled. It was not much but it was enough to send him flying. Only instead of simply fall flat on his face, the impact was enough to send him crashing through the roof.

Into Sasuke Uchiha's bedroom.

Sasuke Uchiha was concentrating on a game of Shogi. He was playing his older brother and so this was a very serious matter. Whilst Itachi was no Nara, he wasn't a member of the Black Ops for no reason.  
And so Sasuke's next move was always carefully planned (though despite his attention to these details he was still no closer to winning a game). He was about to move one of his pawns when Itachi suddenly pushed him to the ground yelling:

"Look out!"

Sasuke was not entirely sure what had happened. He was aware that his brother was crouched over the top of him, there had been a loud crashing noise, and that there was now a fair amount of dust in his room. Moving so he could see past his brother's head, he could see a small hole in his ceiling.

After checking his brother for any injuries, Itachi turned to discover the cause of the destruction.  
Lying amongst the rubble that had previously been the ceiling was a small blonde boy with whisker marks on his face, seemingly the same age as Sasuke. He seemed to be breathing, but he refused to wake up, worrying the older Uchiha.

The younger Uchiha however…  
"Itachi! The Shogi game!" Sasuke wailed in despair when he saw the game pieces scattered across the floor.

* * *

Naruto was wandering down a dripping corridor, filled with pipes. Naruto thought they needed a plumber because they were not working very well if the water on the ground was ankle deep. For some obscure reason, he was not really too concerned about his location.

Turning down one corridor, he found a large room with a set of imposing gates. Though they looked more like a cage than anything else. There was a piece of paper on the gates at the pint where they met, but Naruto could not read what it said on the paper since he did not know how to read.

Being the bold little boy he was, he walked up to the cage and poked his head through the bars. He could not see anything so he tried yelling;  
"Helloooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His voice echoed and rebounded off the walls.

For a moment, there was no reply. As Naruto pulled his head back and began to walk away, a pair of silted, red eyes slowly opened.  
"_So… You are my container?" _

Naruto looked back as he heard the low voice emerge from the dark cage.

"So there was something in there!" he cried in triumph "I knew it!"  
"_What do you want brat?"_ the voice asked, seeming slightly irritated by Naruto's display of exuberance  
"I just wondered if anything was in the cage."Naruto said simply, feeling a bit frightened by the tone of the voice.  
The eyes seemed to find this a plausible answer for a five year old.

"_Why are you here brat?" _the voice asked again, though it was spoken in a slightly gentler tone than before.  
"I dunno... I just fell through the roof and I woke up walking down that hallway and I ended up in here…"The boy, regaining a bit of his mettle took a step closer to the cage.

"_I see…"_

Naruto moved closer to the cage until he could put his hands on it again. He peered inside and in the shadows, he could make out a fluffy shape… a fox…  
"_What are you doing brat?" _the creature asked, again taking care not to intimidate the boy too much.  
"I wanted to see what you looked like Mister Fluffy_!" _Naruto said smiling.

The fox stiffened.  
"_What did you just call me?" _It asked incredulously.  
"Mister Fluffy!"

* * *

Naruto could have sworn he saw the fox's eyebrow twitch in annoyance, but he was not sure since at that moment, the poking of a small black haired Uchiha brought him out of unconsciousness.

Sasuke was bored.  
The blonde boy had not woken up yet.

After he had fallen through his roof, his big brother bat taken him to one of the spare rooms before calling their parents. His mother immediately began fussing over the boy with towels and hot water and insisted Sasuke help her. His father had looked shocked at first but that soon gave way to what his brother had informed him was mild curiosity. To Sasuke he just looked like he was frowning though.

That had been 2 hours ago and he had still not woken up. He was now alone in the room, as his mother was outside discussing whether the boy should be taken to the hospital.

"We can't take him"  
"You've seen the villagers Fugaku!"  
"I realize that Mikoto but if the rest of the clan finds out he's here things will be worse."  
"I don't care, he's a child and if I can't take him to the hospital then I'll just have to heal him myself!"  
"Mikoto…"

Sasuke stopped listening. He knew that they were talking about the blonde boy but he did not understand the conversation at all. Besides, his brother told him it was rude to listen in on other people's conversations and he did not want him to flick his forehead again.

Therefore, instead of continuing to eavesdrop, he turned his attention back to the blonde.  
Why wasn't he waking up?

He could not have hit his head that badly, the roof was not that hard.  
He knew this from his own experience with falling through the roof.  
It had happened on several occasions - much to his mother's displeasure - and he had never been knocked out this long.

He waited for 10 minuets before his patience finally disappeared. He pulled himself onto the bed next to the boy and began to poke his scarred cheeks repetitively. After about five minuets of cheek poking the boy finally began to wake up. Seeing the boys eye begin to open (albeit rather blearily) the young Uchiha ran to find his mother.

"Mommy! Blondy-boy woke up! Mommy!"

After Sasuke had hit him on the head for messing up his Shogi match, (The roof was not important to the 4-year-old Sasuke. Roofs could easily be fixed. Shogi games, once scattered across the floor could not), and Mikoto had given him an extensive check for concussion, the two boys ran out to the training yard to spar. Although 'spar' was not really the proper description. It started out as a wrestling match with toy Kunai, before turning into a game of tag with a reluctant Itachi, who had been give the task of being minder.

It was a mystery to Itachi as to how he was out maneuvered by two five year olds and tricked into getting stuck on the roof. He was a captain of the Black Ops for crying out loud! Their younger brothers and their younger brother's friends do not get Black Ops captains stuck on their own roof!

Mikoto Uchiha was not so sympathetic however.  
She did not care how he did it, she just told him to _'get off my roof or so help me ill get out your grandma's frying pan and beat you off of it! You remember the frying pan don't you Itachi?' _

The scary thing was she said all this looking and sounding like a complete angel.  
Itachi quickly got off the roof. The memories of the frying pan were bad enough.

From that day on, Naruto was a welcome visitor to the Uchiha compound. At first, the other senior clan members had been worried about the 'vessel' being in such close contact with the youngest heir to the clan, however it was nothing more than a strong sense of precaution and soon dissipated. They even allowed the boy to partake in some of the hand-to-hand combat lessons with Sasuke. It was after one of these training sessions that they met the boy who they would later affectionately nickname 'Lazy Ass'

* * *

Itachi frowned as he watched his brother and his yellow-haired playmate (he refused to call it blonde. It was too bright even for blonde. It. Was. Yellow.) devour bowl after bowl of Ramen. He understood that they had just finished training for the morning. He also knew that this was one of the few places in the village that would actually serve Naruto (he was even welcomed) but…

Was it really necessary to eat so much ramen?

They were already past their third bowl and it did not look like they were going to slow down. He knew Sasuke would not make it past his fifth bow but Naruto… it was simply inhuman the way he devoured the stuff… Maybe the Kyuubi liked ramen as well…

Itachi decided to stop worrying about the two boys and their DRI (Daily Ramen Intake). Such thoughts would not promote a stable mind. Instead, he took up conversation with Ayame. She seemed to one of the few girls in the village who didn't turn into a fan girl around male Uchiha's, probably because of her aspiration in the world of ramen making, but if he could actually converse In a normal manner with a girl his own age for once he wasn't going to complain.

As the two conversed, Sasuke and Naruto were in the midst of yet another ramen eating competition. The score was currently 237-0 to Naruto. Try as he might, Sasuke just could not get past five bowls of the stuff. He was halfway through his fourth bowl when two new customers entered the shop.

The two boys ignored this for the most part, (Sasuke was determined to eat his sixth bowl and Naruto just wanted more ramen) until one of the customers asked Teuchi, owner of the ramen stall, if he was sure such a large consumption of noodle dish was healthy.

That got their attention.

Someone actually implying that ramen was a health hazard was like…  
It was blasphemy!

Sasuke turned to glare at the boy who had just insulted the dish (While he was no Naruto when it came to ramen, he was not too far behind. Not that he would ever tell anyone that.). Sitting to his right was a boy their own age. He had black hair that stuck up at the back like a pineapple, and seemed to carry himself in a rather lazy manner. A circle with a vertical line in the middle printed on the boys t-shirt informed him that the boy was likely a high-ranking member of the Nara clan.

"What did you just say?!"Naruto was in outrage.

This boy had insulted ramen.  
It was simply not done.  
It was like kicking puppies.  
It was just wrong.

"I just wondered if eating so much ramen was good for you" The pineapple-head said.  
'_Even his voice sounds lazy'_ Sasuke thought, still glaring at the boy.

"Of course it is! It has vegetables in it! Vegetables are good for you so that means ramen is too!" Naruto quickly came to the defense of his favorite food.  
"Calm down, I was just saying… I mean wouldn't it be a problem if you got sick from too much ramen"

Unfortunately, for the boy, Naruto and Sasuke failed to notice the show of concern.  
"That's it! This means war!" Naruto yelled at him jumping of is stool  
"What?" The pineapple-haired boy was taken of guard by the sudden declaration.  
"You heard me! I said war! What's your name? I'll fight you!" Naruto yelled exuberantly.  
"Shikamaru Nara..." The boy replied, still taken aback by Naruto's dramatic outburst.

"Alright, Shikamaru!" Naruto pointed his finger at him. "I challenge you to a duel in the name of Ramen!" he dragged Sasuke to his side. "This is Sasuke! He's gonna be my second! Pick yours!"  
"Huh? Second? Wait, that's only for a death match! Hey! Leggo of me!"

Whether the Nara actually wanted to fight or not (which was not) didn't appear to be important since Naruto dragged him by the arm in the direction of the nearest play park, Sasuke closely following - also ignoring Shikamaru's protests.

It took fifteen minuets for Itachi to realize his charges had kidnapped a member of the Nara clan to wage war in the name in ramen. Shikaku Nara gave him a look full of sympathy as he saw the realization dawn on the teens face. Then fear (of his mothers reaction), then incredulity (were they really going to have a death match over ramen?) and finally worry (Knowing Naruto and Sasuke? Yes. A death match would be a definite possibility. He could only hope it was not on the roof).

Shikaku clamped a comforting hand on the unfortunate tens shoulder

"Troublesome?"He asked.  
Itachi shuddered. "You have no idea…"and then he ran of yelling curses upon his two young charges.

And that was how Sasuke and Naruto met Shikamaru Nara.

The Nara's were a very laid-back clan, who seemed to have absolutely no worries. They even laughed when word of how Shikamaru had unwillingly been forced into a fight for 'the glory of ramen' reached them.

Shikamaru soon became the third member of their little group, and through association, Naruto became a welcome visitor of a second clan. As with the Uchiha clan, he was not taught any of their clan techniques, he was however instructed in Shogi. Which he seemed to win through sheer dumb luck. Shikamaru seemed to find it especially irritating when he used the 'eeny-meeny-miney-mo' technique to decide on which piece to move. Sasuke said nothing, but secretly found Shikamaru's reaction to be amusing.

However, they all spent most of their time in the Uchiha Clan-House, or in one of the local parks. Shikamaru's parents seemed to be having difficulties, so the atmosphere in the Nara Clan-House made it a less than satisfactory play/practice area. And after seeing Naruto's apartment (Paid for by the Yamanaka's at the time) both boys made Naruto swear never to make them go there ever again.

Shikamaru did not realize how much trouble accompanied Sasuke and the blonde fishcake could be until he was caught in one of their 'incidents'. Sasuke and Naruto were once again, arguing over some trivial matter that escalated into a battle of fisticuffs.

* * *

"_Fool!"  
_"_Duck-Ass!  
_"_IDIOT!!"  
"BASTARD!!"  
_"_GIRLY-MAN!"  
"BIMBO!"  
_"_BOTTOM BOY!"  
_"_FISHCAKE!"_

"_TROUBLESOME!"_ The third member of the trio yelled, very much surprising (and terrifying) the other two. The boys were now 7 and almost 8 (Naruto was a year older) and in the two years they had known Shikamaru they could count on one hand the number of times he had raised his voice.

They had learned to be silent when this occurred.

"Geez, can't you two ever stop fighting?" The pineapple-haired boy sighed. Naruto had started in the academy two years ago, so their time together was restricted. But instead of having fun all his two idiotic friends did was argue.

"Err…" Naruto moved behind Sasuke to protect himself from any possible Nara-Wrath.  
Nara-Wrath was very scary.

He had seen Shikaku use Nara-Wrath on Shikamaru when they got caught egg-bombing the lazy boy's crotchety old grandmother's even more crotchety old dog. He had given them 20 Ryo each for a good job later on but still…  
Naruto never wanted to see Nara-Wrath again…

"Well…" Sasuke gave Naruto a glare for leaving him the job of talking their way out.

Sasuke had never seen the fabled Nara-Wrath.  
He had declined from the egg-bombing incident in fear of Uchiha-Fugaku-Wrath, but he had heard stories form Choji.  
He and Naruto didn't know Choji as well as Shikamaru did but they had met a few times.  
And Choji's tales of Nara-Wrath had secretly sent chills down the dark-haired boy's spine.

"Don't answer that… be too troublesome."  
The raven and the blonde breathed a sigh of relief.

"How'd you two even meet?" Shikamaru had wondered for a while how two _complete opposites _who managed to both cause so much trouble, yet be the best of friends, had crossed paths for a while. He had just been too lazy to bring it up.

"I feel through his roof."  
"He fell through my roof" They answered respectively.

"…How the hell did he fall through your roof?"The Nara asked incredulously.  
"I tripped up"  
"Ok, but why were you even on the roof in the first place?"  
"Yeah, why were you on my roof Idiot?" Sasuke never had found out why Naruto had interrupted his Shogi game (yes. He was still holding a grudge.).

Shikamaru gave him an exasperated look, as if to say _'you don't know that?'_ but Sasuke just glared at him.

"Err… I was running away from a mob…"

Shikamaru decided not to ask about the mob. It seemed more trouble than it was worth  
"That still doesn't explain how you tripped up on a roof" Sasuke interjected.

Naruto frowned. To this day, he still had not figured out how he had tripped up. Deciding to settle the matter once and for all, he turned towards the house. After all, a Nara with an unsatisfied curiosity was worse than an Akimichi with an empty stomach.

Using a vine of ivy for foot and handholds, Naruto climbed up one of the wooden pillars that held up the overhanging roof over the outdoor platform. In a matter of minuets, he had clambered onto the tiles. His two companions soon joined him.

They examined many identical looking tiles and were about to give up when they finally spotted it. One of the tiles had not been fastened down properly, and stuck up at an awkward angle. As Naruto moved closer to better inspect the mysterious tile, a loud crack was heard before the tiles once again fell away from his feet.

Sasuke and Shikamaru would have pulled him out of harms way if it were not for the fact that their feet were also falling through the air.

"DAMN IT BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR ROOF? WHY THE FUCK DOES IT ALWAYS COLLAPSE?!"  
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW IDIOT? DO I LOOK LIKE I BUILD ROOFS FOR FUN OR SOMETHING?!"  
"GOD THIS IS SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS! THIS IS BEYOND TROUBLESOME! TROUBLESOME DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN TO COVER THIS!"

The three boys were al holding onto the tiling, dangling in thin air. In the midst of their arguing, the failed to notice the hairline cracks in their respective tiles begin to expand until…

"FUUUUUUUUCCCK!"  
"NARUTO!"  
"IDIOT!"

* * *

When Naruto woke up the first thing he was aware of was the dawning of Satan in his leg.  
It. Hurt. Like. Hell.

The second thing he was aware of was Mikoto Uchiha's face hovering over his.  
A brief memory of a woman with long red hair flashed through his mind for an instant before he quickly pushed it aside.  
Looking at her face he saw worry, relief, and irritation all mixed together.

"You stupid boy!" she wailed before suffocating him with a bone crushing hug that sent another memory through his mind. Only to be quickly pushed aside again.

"What on earth were you doing?! Do you enjoy worrying me so much?!" she wailed loudly before bursting into tears and suffocating him some more.  
"Honey, you're choking him."

She released him and turned to her husband instead.

"I can't do it Fugaku! Itachi and Sasuke are bad enough! I can't handle two more!" She wailed into her husband's shirt. "They're going to be the death of me!" Fugaku awkwardly patted his wife on the back.

"Now now dear, it's alright. Naruto's awake now… and I'm sure it wasn't on purpose…" Naruto nodded his head franticly when the man glanced in his direction. Fugaku-Uchiha-Wrath was almost as bad as Nara-Wrath.  
Mikoto wailed louder and Fugaku sighed before gently pulling her from the room to calm her down.

Not long after the two elder Uchihas left the room, Naruto was bombarded with two angry boys his own age. Sasuke had a bandage wrapped around his forehead (For once his mother was not over reacting; a large tile had left a nasty gash on his forehead) and Shikamaru had plasters of various sizes dotted here and there.

"IDIOT!"  
"NARUTO!"  
"FUCK!"

Several bruises and hours later, Naruto found himself back at his own apartment. He set about making himself something simple to eat as he remembered Mikoto's earlier distress. It reminded him of his own mother. Though she would most likely pound him on the head a few times screaming 'fuck' and 'idiot', then remark about how he was more idiotic than his father was. Then she would make ramen with an excessive amount of chili in it and everything would be all better again.

He wondered why she had suddenly disappeared as he chopped up an onion. The old man knew but he would not tell him. He would just say _'I'll tell you when you're older'_ every time he asked, then distract him with a low level Jutsu to train with. And the same thing happened whenever he asked who his father had been. All he knew was that he was dead.

He knew his mother was not dead. She was in the Black Ops for cripes sake. Members of the Black Ops do not just up and die. He was 7, but he was not completely stupid.

There was something else that no one wanted him to know.

The door crashed open, jerking him from his thoughts.  
"Naruto! You're Home!"

A blonde girl in a purple t-shirt and a pair of black shorts marched into his kitchen, not bothering to shut his door.  
Much to his irritation.

Ino Yamanaka was another of his friends.  
She had blond hair that reached just past her shoulders, kept tied in a ponytail.  
A few more years and it would be as long as her fathers was.  
She had pale blue eyes, and was a loud, brash girl.

She had met Naruto Before the other two boys. Her father had been close to his mother while she had been around, so they had been around each other since they were babies. It had been Ino's father who had looked after him until he was old enough to survive on his own, after his mother's disappearance (Naruto insisted on this, though Inochi still handled most of his rent.). Ino often came round with leftovers and to chat, or train. And more often than not Naruto would find her draped over his sofa the next morning.

"Ino! Can't you shut the door at least once?!"  
"Why? I just came here to drop off the leftover Okonomiyaki we ordered from the take-out. I'm going in a minuet."  
"You always say that! Then you hijack my sofa!"  
"…it's a comfy sofa."

Naruto sighed in resignation. There was no point in arguing with her, he would just waste time that e could use to train. At least that's what he thought, until Ino spotted the bandages wrapped around his leg, and the other various scrapes and bruises.

"Naruto! What the Hell?! Did you fall through a roof or something?!"  
"Err… yes…"  
"…You're kidding right?"  
"Nope. But I took the bastard and the lazy ass with me this time!"

"You fell through Sasuke's roof again?!" Her eyebrow twitched. That was a bad sign.  
"I just said that."

"Is that roof cursed or something? Cause I heard Itachi fell through it once…" Good, she had gone of on a tangent. With any luck, she would forget about the bruises.  
"I know he got stuck on it… until Mrs. U got the frying pan out."

Unfortunately for Naruto, Ino suddenly remembered she was supposed to be freaking out about the injuries and sped to the bathroom where the first aid kit was kept, before speeding back and tackling him to the sofa.

"Don't you dare move until I've finished you, you idiot!"  
"Get off! I've already been subjected to Mrs. U's medical torture! I do not need yours! Last time you tried to clean a wound you used washing up liquid!"

He struggled to push her off but Naruto was not about to fight back properly.  
Like Shikamaru, there was something about fighting girls that did not sit well with him.

"I was 5! I've gotten better since then! And Mrs. U cannot use a medical kit to save her life! She can't even tie a bandage properly!" she had seated herself on his stomach so he couldn't escape and was proceeding to re-bandage his leg.

"And you can?!"  
"Probably better than she can!" she retorted.

The night progressed with more fights over medical care (torture) and then over the chore of watering Naruto's houseplants. After a brief pause in the chaos to munch on the Okonomiyaki, there was a short period of Physical training, before they both fell asleep on the sofa, completely zonked out.

* * *

It was Shikamaru, who was dealt the unfortunate task of waking them up the next morning.

He was less than pleased with the job, but Sasuke was slightly afraid of Ino's temper.  
She was an exploding tag waiting to happen when woken up.  
And the Uchiha had no desire to suffer her vengeance.

He argued that since Shikamaru knew her better, that it should be his job.  
Shikamaru protested but, as with every day to come, he simply could not be bothered with the farce of arguing after about two minuets.  
Therefore, he was the one who ended up banging on Naruto's door at 6AM.

"Naruto! Ino! Get Up. We got to get to the Academy…."

He did try.  
He really did.  
He even shouted their names.

But he really couldn't keep up the shouting thing…  
What if he strained his vocal chords or something? That would mean he would not be able to talk for ages, and the idiots would laugh at him then complain because he couldn't communicate without paper to write on…  
It really wasn't worth the trouble.

Instead, he chose to open the lock using on of his family's Shadow Techniques. He couldn't use the Shadow Possession technique yet, he didn't have enough Chakra for it, but he could manipulate shadows easily enough. Moments later, there was a click and the door opened. He walked over to the sofa and was not surprised to see the two blondes crashed on the Blue lump of fabric. It was really just a giant beanbag.

Ino was slumped over Naruto using him as a pillow, drooling onto his orange jacket slightly. Naruto was also drooling onto the cushion his head was resting on.

Oh, joy.  
He was never going to wake them up!

He tried prodding them both a couple of times, but it was a fruitless (and as such, pointless) effort. Shikamaru pondered for a moment before pulling a small exploding tag from the pouch strapped to his belt. He pushed a little bit of Chakra in to paper and…

BANG

There was a screech as Ino was first awoken by the explosion, and was then catapulted to the floor as Naruto instantly stood up, kunai in hand. Apparently, the explosion had really startled him, since his eyes had taken the red color they sometimes did whenever he was in a bad mood or sensed a treat of some sort.

That surprised Shikamaru. Naruto normally had good reactions, and wouldn't normally have reacted so cautiously. Nor would he be as startled. Maybe it had something to do with Ino. He sometimes missed things when she was around.

Eventually, Shikamaru managed to calm him down enough to get the red eyes to go away.

"Geez, you two are such a pain in the ass… we got to go or we'll be late… and Sasuke will be pissed if we're late…"  
"God what it is it with him and time keeping?" Ino grumbled as she regained her senses. After a few moments she realised she had fallen aslepp on Narutos sofa (again) and had no spare clothes.

"Naruto, can I borrow some clothes? I don't want to wear these. I wore them yesterday. Its kind of disgusting wearing them again…" she asked, wrinkling her nose at her clothes.  
"Cant you just get some of your own? You live like five minuets away." Naruto complained, pulling on a t-shirt taken from a pile of clean laundry abandoned on the floor.

"No! Shika already said we were going to be… DON'T CHANGE IN FRONT OF A GIRL YOU MORON!"  
"Then don't watch! And if you really want some clothes just grab 'em from the pile."  
"Whatever, just HURRY UP!" Shikamaru yelled.

Almost a minuet later, Naruto had locked his door and they were all walking in the direction of the academy.

* * *

_**Yaaaaay. More Torture. I love Nara Wrath. And sasukes Roof. Poor Itachi... Oh on a side note, there will not be a full-on Uchiha-Massacre in this. if any of you have complaints then you can wave goodbye to my godly ass! Take youre flames and stick 'em where the sun dont shine!**_

_**for everyone else...  
Revew! i'll give you a virtual cookie!  
Presss the reveiw button...  
you know you want to...  
Go on..  
press itttttt...**_

_**Natarii  
XXX**_


	2. Thats What I Go To School F Eep! Kunai!

_**If I owned Naruto it Itachin, Minny and Kushi would still be alive, Mandarin and Danzo would be fed to Kisame, Zestu would be a pot plant (hes half plant so were halfway there in canon! XP), Ino and Shikamaru would have more screentime, and Gaara would have mouse ears (i dont know what tanuki ears look like, but if shukaku is anything to go by they wouldnt e anywhere near as cute XD) so all in all...  
IT WOULD NOT BE NARUTO!  
does that answer your question mr-stick-up-my-ass-fancy-pants-lawyer?  
**_

_**WARNING: Serious swearing kiddies. Little bit of blood too. nothing ba, though it does mention bones. there is also the raping of kunai and shuriken. slightly. if you read this dont tell mommy the new words you learned ok kiddlings? i dont wanna be sued.  
**_

* * *

Sasuke was close to having a conniption fit when they arrived.  
Apparently, they had only just made it in time for the inauguration ceremony.

And Sasuke did not like that.

It was a well-known fact that the Uchihas lived their lives through strict schedules, which were to be adhered to even if it was a matter of life or death. A five minuet leeway was permitted, but only if the situation was desperate.  
As in, you-were-in-a-fight-with-a-rouge-ninja-and-would-die-if-you-did-not-push-your-time-for-reading-back-by-_exacty_-five-minuets desperate.

And Sasuke was no exception to this rule.  
The only person who even came close to an exception was Itachi, and he only improved the leeway from five minuets to ten minuets. So the Lazy Ass, The Idiot, and the Piggy were subjected to the first ever example of Sasuke-Uchiha-Wrath, though it was not yet fully developed.

It mostly consisted of the raven-haired boy screaming curses left, right, and centre as they made their way to the assembly square for the inauguration.  
So it did not exactly instil fear into them.

Naruto even commented that it was 'more like Sasuke-Uchiha-Screeching-Practice' than Wrath.  
Sasuke chose to ignore this comment.

It was not until they were all standing with the other new students that they realised Naruto had not gone ahead to his own class, and was instead standing with them.

"Did you forget you had class idiot?" Sasuke whispered as the Chunin teacher announced the Hokage would be giving a speech.  
"Failed the Graduation test." Naruto grumbled, obviously embarrassed and angry. Sasuke s frown softened slightly.  
"I thought you were doing better this year…" It was not unusual for a student to take a second year if they were not from one of the major clans, but three... Either Naruto was past a measurable level of stupidity, or he had chronic bad luck.

"Fucking _Clone Technique_ _again_" Naruto grumbled. Sasuke's eyes widened in understanding. Naruto and the Clone technique was a good representation of the phrase 'like oil and water' Clones required little Chakra, but Naruto's abysmal Chakra control and absurd amount of Chakra made the technique impossible for him.

"That's weird… my cousin said it was the _Transformation Technique_…" Ino whispered.  
"Mine said that too." Shikamaru added."  
"Yeah, well I got the fucking _Clone Technique_." the other three frowned but said nothing.

Ino began to wish Aunty Kushina were still around. No doubt, she would have had a solution in her vast range of techniques. She had been a Junkie for Ninja Techniques, though she hated Illusionary techniques as Sasuke hated tardiness.

However, her adoptive aunt was not around any longer. Therefore, it would be up to her and the other two boys to make sure Naruto passed this year.

Upon entering the classroom, the four Trainee-Genin raced the other students for the seats at the back of the room. Itachi had told them horror stories of Iruka's lectures. And the best place to sleep them out was, by default, the back of the room. After a lot of cursing (Naruto & to a lesser degree Ino), glaring (Sasuke), Sighing (Shikamaru), biting (Ino), physical abuse and verbal warfare in general…

Shikamaru sat closet to the walkway in the middle of the room. Sandwiched between him and Naruto was Ino, and Sasuke sat on Naruto's free side. Other students who had also heard of Iruka's lectures glared at them. Others looked at them as if they were crazy for going to such drastic measures. Later, they would also be glaring at them.

* * *

"Alright, we've gone over the basics of Chakra, can anyone give me a brief description of Illusionary techniques? Naruto, how about you?"

"Naruto…"

"Idiot!" Sasuke tried poking him.

"Naruto!" Ino screeched in his ear.  
"WAAAH! MY RAMEN!"  
"DETENTION!"  
"...Idiot."

* * *

The school year passed quickly, and soon the spring holidays were upon them. Iruka, being Iruka, did not see this as a chance to slack off. Instead, he gave his student a decidedly evil pop quiz. The student filled into the classroom after lunch to find blank sheets of paper, and a set of questions on each of their desks, well almost everyone.

Naruto and Sasuke were too busy discussing which was worse, Sasuke's roof or his grandmother's frying pan.

"I'm telling you the frying pan is worse! That thing hasn't hit you! I swear it's alive! It bites you! It has teeth! The roof doesn't bite you, it's just unstable!"  
"Hell no! The roof beats the frying pan any day! That roof collapses even when you aren't standing on it! You walk down the corridor and all of a sudden BAM! You get bombarded by falling roof tiles! It's like your dads _Phoenix Flower Technique_ without the fire!"

"The frying pan is worse Idiot!"  
"Hell no, Bastard! The roof is!"  
"Frying pan!"  
"Roof!"  
"Idiot!"  
"Bastard!"  
"Fishcake!"  
"Bottom Boy!"  
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"  
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

The curses and insults did not stop until Iruka whacked them both on the back on the back of the head with a textbook.

"Oww!"  
"Oww!"  
"Sit down in your seats and get on with the test!" Iruka roared at them.  
They looked around; only just realising they had entered the classroom and had just been arguing in front of the class. Sasuke's fan girls seemed to be in heaven from hearing his voice for a change. Ino was laughing to the point of it being scary, as was Kiba. Shikamaru was sleeping.

They hurried to their seats and quickly picked up the question paper. Sasuke glanced over the first few questions, snorted, and began scribbling down the answers. Naruto watched as Shikamaru filled in the answers for half of the questions before promptly falling asleep again. Ino seemed to be fairing just as well. A glance around showed him that his classmates were also progressing through the questions quickly.

Naruto felt a horrible sense of Deja Vu.  
He looked down at his own question paper.  
He let his head fall onto the desk with a loud 'thunk'.

Iruka watched bas Naruto stared and squinted at his paper for several minuets before banging his head on his desk, letting it stay there for the entire length of the allotted testing time. He frowned. Naruto should not be having any problems. He answered all the questions he was asked fine. Besides that, this was his third year in the academy. He should know this stuff by heart by now.

Yet, the blonde didn't even attempt to answer any of the questions on the test.  
He knew something wasn't right. The question was what.

Sasuke finished his test in ten minuets of staring. It had been pathetic. 'Name the five great Ninja Villages' and 'how many Hokages have there been to date' or 'what energy is used for ninja techniques' hardly qualified as taxing questions. A glance at Shikamaru (sleeping) and Ino (Doodling on the pair of Naruto's jeans she had borrowed) told his they had found the test just as easy as he had.

Naruto, however, worried him.

He had seen the blonde look at the question paper five minuets into the test, and instantly give up, not even attempting to answer the questions. It could not be that he did not know the answers. Even an ordinary civilian could have aced the why was Naruto having such a hard time?

"Alright, times up!" Iruka called out to the class.

"Hand in your test as you go! Were done for the day, remember to review the chapter on Illusionary Techniques and your other homework over the holidays." Iruka took in the tests from the students as they left the room.

"Naruto, I'd like to talk to you before you go, so wait back please."

The students filed out of the room, Sasuke looked at Naruto worry hidden behind the I-don't-care expression permanently etched onto his face. Naruto caught the worry however (he did not know how he did it, but he did) and gave a reassuring smile.

"I'm not going to be turned into dolphin food Bastard, go ahead with Lazy Butt and Piggy. I'll catch up."

Sasuke frowned but walked out the door and continued down the corridor, meeting with said piggy and lazy butt at the exit.

"What did you want Iruka-Sensei?" Naruto asked, sitting down on one of the desks at the front of the class in front of his teacher.  
Iruka gave him a worried frown.

"It's about your test" The characteristic grin that had been on Naruto's face disappeared. "I noticed you looking at the questions then not even attempt to answer them. I know you're not the best in the class but you're not that bad… so why didn't you even try to answer the questions?"

Naruto looked at him in surprise.  
"You don't know? I told Katahara-Sensei last year though… not that it helped any, but I did tell him. And I told Karuko-Sensei the year before that!"

This time it was the Chunin's turn to look surprised.  
"Naruto, what are you talking about?"  
"I can't read Kanji."

The Chunin stared at him. Now that it was out in the open, he had never seen any kanji on any of the written work Naruto had handed to him; however, he thought nothing of it at the time. Some people simply preferred to write without it after all. Bu it was still preposterous! A child of eight unable to read Kanji?

"Naruto, that makes no sense! You are eight; you should be able to read the kanji in the books here easily. I know we don't cover the basic stuff here but that is no excuse! How can you not read?"

"Hey! I can read hiragana fine! It's just… my mom hadn't started teaching me kanji when she… I can read katakana as well but… I was never taught kanji. My mom… well she couldn't, and no one else wanted to teach me."

Ah. Now Iruka understood the situation. He knew Naruto's mother had disappeared when he was still young. He knew Inochi had looked after him until he was about five or six, hadn't he taught him anything?

"I see, but couldn't you have asked Inochi for help? I know he looked after you for a while."

Naruto frowned.  
"He was already looking after me. And he had to look after Ino by himself as well since her mom died…"

'I see where this is going…' Iruka thought to himself. He massaged his temples one hand, brows furrowed in deep thought.

Naruto would be doomed to stay in the academy for the rest of his life if he did not learn at least some kanji. Soon.

True, many trainee-ninja were not taught as much on the basics as ordinary civilians, but most were home taught to make up for that - from an early age. It was still an essential after all, but the amount of training a Ninja received in the academy simply made giving lessons on such basics impossible. As such, any children who were enrolled into the Ninja Academy would be taught the basics from an earlier age than civilians to make up for that - especially those from the Clans.

Being unable to read properly was as bad in the ninja world as it was for civilians. In fact, it was probably worse. Ninja often used seals in their techniques, and many of them used kanji. There was a reason exploding tags were manufactured. The amount of time spent making them was hell. One wrong brush stroke and the thing would explode if you wanted it to or not.

Kanji was an absolute necessity. Knowing Hiragana and Katakana simply was not enough to get by. What worried him more was the fact that Naruto had informed two different teachers on two separate occasions of this problem and nothing had been done to resolve the matter.

He knew of the creature sealed inside the blonde, everyone his age did, He also knew many of those people treated the boy unfairly. Iruka had chosen to sit on the bench. He wasn't going to deliberately segregate or mistreat a child for something he had no control over, however he was aware of the danger should the fox break free. He remained neutral.

Apparently his two co-workers were part of the Anti-Naruto herd.  
Whatever his co-workers had done, he had to rectify the situation now.  
But how?

He mulled various ideas and scenarios before coming to a decision.

He dug around in his desk drawer for a piece of paper and a pen before scribbling a message Naruto couldn't see (let alone read). He placed the message in an envelope, licked it, and scribbled a name on the front.

"Naruto, could you give this letter to Fugaku Uchiha? I think he may be able to help you out. You know him fairly well don't you? I see you with Sasuke a lot…" Naruto nodded, though the expression on his face showed his obvious confusion.

"Good. Now get going! And don't forget that homework!"

* * *

Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Ino were waiting for him at the beginning of the road linking the academy to the main street.

"Naruto! Hurry Up! Teuchi's closing early today! I want some Ramen before afternoon training starts!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto laughed inwardly. The raven was probably worrying about being late.

"Fine but lemme tag along! Iruka gave me something to give your dad!"

If Sasuke thought this was strange (Which he did), he did not show it.  
"Alright, just hurry up!"

Upon reaching the Uchiha estate, Sasuke was immediately smothered by his mother. Mikoto had always been an affectionate mother, and she seemed to find all sorts of reasons to squeeze the bejeesus out of the baby of her two boys.

"Mom! Get off! Lemme go!" Sasuke struggled to free himself from his mothers grasp. He failed miserably.  
Not even Itachi could escape his mothers grasp.

"No!"  
"Mom!" Sasuke sent his friend a pleading look. Naruto sent a look that said 'you're paying for my ramen for two days' before intervening and preventing the raven-haired boy from death-by-suffocation.

"Excuse me Mrs. U, is Sasuke's dad around?" Mikoto Uchiha looked up, absently releasing Sasuke form her grasp. He immediately took several deep gulps of air.

"Fugaku? He's at the training grounds with Itachi, Why? And how many times do I have tot ell you to call me Mikoto!" Mikoto Uchiha was also not a person for formalities.

"I have a letter from Iruka for him." Naruto had learned to ignore Sasuke's mother when she got on the anti-formalities wagon. It was better for everyone that way.

"Oh, well, you know where the training grounds are. Sasuke!" The boy froze in the doorway he had been about to pass through. He had almost succeeded in escaping to the hallway.  
Almost. His mother was a Jonin.  
Retired maybe, but that did not mean she didn't keep up with her training.

"What?" he asked cautiously.  
"You go with him. Your father wants to spend some time working on your fire and illusionary techniques this afternoon" Sasuke's face fell slightly.  
"But I told the Lazy Ass we'd meet up with the others for the advanced showing of the new Princess Gale movie tonight!"  
"Language! And you can do that once you've done your training! Now get going before I get the frying pan out!"

Sasuke instantly grabbed Naruto by his arm and fled in the direction of his family's training grounds.

Fugaku Uchiha looked at the letter from Iruka, and then the blonde boy standing in front of him. He had been surprised when it was the blonde, not Sasuke, handing him a note from their teacher. He understood upon reading the letter though.

"Naruto, why did you not say something of this to Inochi earlier? I'm sure he wouldn't have minded teaching you."  
"He had his hands full with Ino…" The boy said, slightly embarrassed (Not that Fugaku could blame him).

"Still, you know that the ninja academy dose not teach these subjects. Why do you think all ninja are home schooled in matters such as these?"

Naruto did not look at him. He obviously knew how much of a problem he had landed himself in, berating the boy for it now was not going to help. The damage had been done.

Fugaku wondered why Iruka had asked him to help the boy out.  
Of all people why him?  
He was no scholar! His own writing was barley passable.

Couldn't he have asked Shikaku to do this?  
This was more his area…  
Then again, the problems he was having with his wife were common knowledge.  
Tutoring probably wasn't the best idea for him right now.

And if Inochi found out…  
Either he would blame himself for not taking care of his friends son properly, or kill the boy for not telling him sooner.

And considering most of the village wanted nothing to do with the boy if they could help it…

He sighed. He really did not want to do this. He could teach Ninja Techniques, Illusionary Techniques, and the Physical Arts without a problem. But teaching a child to read? He had barley managed with Itachi and Sasuke, and they and both been young when they learned. Easier to teach.

Naruto was eight. It would be harder for his brain to accept new information. As he pondered, he caught sight of Itachi sparring with Sasuke. He felt an invisible smirk grace his features. His first-born had requested time off from the Black Ops. He had plenty of free time on his hands…

"Itachi!" He called out. His oldest immediately stopped the spar, and walked over to his father - Sasuke closely following.

"Yes Father?" He asked.  
"I have a request for you." He said'request'.

However, when Fugaku Uchiha had a request - he meant an order.  
He was clan head, after all, and no one in their right minds went up against him.

"What is it?" The teen asked.  
"I want you to teach Naruto how to read."

Itachi's jaw dropped slightly.  
Sasuke stared at his friend eyes bulging, mouth agape.

"You can't read?" He asked incredulously.  
"Kanji! I can't read kanji! I can read the rest fine! Mom never taught me kanji…" Sasuke's eyes softened in understanding at the mention of his mother. But only slightly.  
"Idiot, that's half the language you can't read!"  
"Shut up! It's not my fault!"

Fugaku disagreed. Had the boy said something sooner he may have been a third year academy student by now. However, he chose not to mention this. The poor kids pride was already suffering from Sasuke's hysterical laughter.

Itachi still had not said anything.  
Pft.

* * *

Itachi had never asked for much from his family. He was content with what he had and his abilities as a ninja. He was not a person who had many material needs. Well, except for pocky and his cacti collection. However, that was a far as any desire for any material goods went. He had been confident in the belief that he had never failed to live up to his fathers expectations, and that he was pleased with him.

After spending two weeks teaching Naruto how to read the half of the language he had yet to learn, Itachi begged his father to find another tutor for the boy. He kneeled down, head pressed to the floor of his fathers study.

He, Itachi Uchiha, was begging.

The kid was evil!  
He was only pretending to be this stupid.  
Itachi could tell...

Fugaku truly sympathised for his son. He really did. Nevertheless, it was survival of the fittest. He had no desire, nor the ability, to teach the boy. However, his sense of responsibility forced him to do something to help the boy. If only to honour their past alliances with the boy's family.

So it was with an only-slightly-heavy-heart that he denied the only request his eldest son had asked for in several years. He promised to make up for it somehow, but he still denied the refused to talk to him for several days, until he ordered a rare variety of cacti from a cacti breeder (he did not ask why someone bred cacti for a living) in the land of wind.  
Itachi seemed to forgive him, if the grunts were anything to go by...

Eventually, Sasuke stopped laughing at Naruto's predicament. He still berated him for his stupidity for not saying something sooner, but he did stop laughing. He even helped him out in class. Unfortunately, for Naruto, Ino saw this. And when she found out, even Shikamaru started running.

Ino's temper was not something to be trifled with.

* * *

Two years later, and Naruto had successfully made it to the second year course in the academy. He did not know it, but he had Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Ino to thank for that. They had noticed long ago that many, if not all, of the adults in the village disliked Naruto. When you go into a shop with the boy only for him to be thrown out (not common, but it had happened a couple of times), overpriced, or simply glared at you tend to notice these things.

Shikamaru was the first to notice. During their lessons on the Illusionary arts, during their first year, Naruto's abysmal control became a problem. The amount of Chakra needed for illusions didn't matter. The more Chakra, the harder it was to break. It had to be controlled however. And that was where Naruto failed.

Appearing to take pity on the boy, one of the teachers known as Katahara-Sensei took him aside and gave him a small piece of paper. He instructed the boy to use his Chakra to affix the piece of paper to his forehead and keep it there. By doing this, he would improve his Chakra control and would then be able to successfully cast the illusion.

Naruto smiled but the lazy boy could tell he was dubious. Despite this took the paper. If the wind had not blown the paper before Naruto applied his Chakra to it, he never would have seen the black markings on the side of the paper.

Moving faster than he (or anyone else) ever thought possible, he lunged at the paper, quickly removing it from the blonde's grasp. Needles to say, Naruto was surprised.  
"Did you just _run?_"

Shikamaru ignored him.  
Instead, he turned to face the teacher.  
Glaring.  
The teacher fidgeted under the mini version of Nara-Wrath.

"Katahara-Sensei, why did you try to get Naruto to put Chakra into an exploding tag?" He asked in a dangerously calm tone, especially for a nine year old

"What are you talking about Shikamaru? That's a Chakra controlling seal. It's made to help people with controlling their Chakra." he smiled, the boy easily saw it for what it was; fake. He turned the tag over and pointed at one of the Kanji.

"It can't be. Control seals don't have the kanji for blood on them. See?"  
The teacher profusely apologised and Shikamaru dragged Naruto away from the man, saying he would help him out with the illusion.

"Thanks lazy butt! If you hadn't jumped in that could've got kind of messy…"  
"Yeah, yeah, just try not to get into trouble so much. Pain in the ass"

Inside his head, Shikamaru's thoughts were racing a mile a minuet. He refused to believe the teacher had mistaken the seals. He was a Chunin. There was no way he could have mixed the two up. He had been trying to kill the blonde. Or at least severely maim him.  
The question burning itself into his brain was _why?_

Shikamaru alerted Sasuke to the incident, and the boy looked like he was desperately trying not to send a fire technique up the man's backside. However, he controlled his temper, and agreed to keep alert. He also vehemently agreed when Shikamaru stressed the importance of withholding the information from Ino.

If the girl got wind of this then she would loose it. And that was to be avoided. Girls were scary when mad in general, but Ino took it to the extreme end of extremes.

After Shikamaru's intervention, the sabotaging of Naruto's schooling decreased to a barley noticeable level. Some teachers would mark him in a harsher manner, only for the blond to go far above the requirements - thus giving them no choice but to pass him.  
This was only during practical tests though.

When the written tests came around, Naruto's incomprehension of Kanji was his downfall, despite Itachi's efforts. The teachers would deliberately use difficult kanji, or use long-winded phrases that were hard to understand. Naruto managed, but barley. Therefore dragging his overall grade down to the middle of the class.

As for the others, Sasuke could have been the top male student, but his and Naruto's 'lovers quarrels' as Ino called them (Sasuke yelled at her whenever she mentioned it), distracted him. He has also somehow landed the job of 'wake-up-Shikamaru' that also demanded a lot of attention. Therefore, he came in second - just behind Shino Aburame.

Shikamaru - when he bothered to do the work they were given - was rather unenthusiastic. He answered enough to pass, and that was it. After that he either fell asleep again, or gazed of absently into the clouds. He held a passing grade, a low one, but it was still a passing grade. So that was good enough for him.

Ino was constantly butting heads with Sakura Haruno for the position of top girl, and frequently claimed the position, though not all the time. She probably could have permanently claimed the position had she not been running after the boys.

Making sure Naruto passed his tests, motivating Shikamaru to do the work in the first place, and preventing Sasuke from murdering the two out of frustration (because of Naruto's comments and Shikamaru's laziness) took a bit of time and concentration.

By the end of their second year, things were progressing well. Though hey were not without other incidents. After all, it wasn't just some of their teachers that had something against Naruto. During the summer before their third year, they were all practicing their Physical Arts in the Uchiha compound.

Ino had managed to force Shikamaru into practicing, using unknown methods, as Naruto and Sasuke beat the snot out of each other. For some reason they could not go two weeks without at least one serious fight. Ino passed it of as the whole male-pride-thing. She soon beat the lazy Nara into the dirt; he was too lazy to put up an actual fight. She made a mental note never to ask him to be her sparring partner again. He was useless.

As she sat back and observed the two remaining boys sparring, she did not notice the kunai hurled in their direction until it was almost too late for either boy to dodge.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Luckily they both heard the familiar whistling of a kunai travelling through the air and dodged. Sasuke jumped up into the air, whilst Naruto flattened himself to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Naruto let out a string of violent sounding threats and promises of pain for the one who threw the kunai. Sasuke looked just as angry, even if he did not say anything.

Ino was freaking out, obsessively checking Naruto for any injuries other than the ones from his fight with Sasuke. She didn't freak as much over Sasuke, she didn't know him half as well as Naruto. Therefore, in her panic-addled mind, Naruto came precedent.

Shikamaru was aroused from his slumber by all the commotion, and looked thoroughly confused. However, it was not for long. Once he saw the Kunai and Ino chasing Naruto screaming about checking for injuries, he derived a conclusion.  
A glance from Sasuke confirmed his suspicions.

Sasuke was livid. Not only had someone tried to kill his friend, but it was likely a member of his own family. Unless a person was invited in, it was impossible to enter the Uchiha compound. Very few, other than family friends, had ever seen the inside of the compound.

Even less had seen the training areas. Especially this particular one. It was for use by the clan head and close relatives only. Not even other Uchiha were allowed to use it without permission. His friends were only allowed near it when he, Itachi, or his parents were present. Even then, it was not often. They normally used the general training grounds.

All this together meant the person who had thrown the Kunai was probably a close relative. It was the only way they could have got close enough to throw the thing. That pissed him off.

"Who threw that? Show yourself! Unless you're a relative of the clan head, you have no right even being here! Show yourself!" He yelled. He turned his head in different directions as he spoke, unsure as to the attacker's location.

There was no answer. Instead, multitudes of kunai ans shuriken were thrown from different directions.

* * *

Naruto grabbed the one aimed in his direction moment before it hit his jugular, though he sliced his palm open in the process. Sasuke deflected the two heading for him with some shuriken, and Shikamaru expended his shadow to form a circle on the ground. The shuriken froze as their shadows entered the circle. He deactivated the circle and the kunai clattered harmlessly to the ground.

Ino screamed as one kunai flew in her direction, too fast fro her to react to. Sasuke felt his gut clench. He couldn't reach her. She was at the opposite end of the training ground. Shikamaru was already running in her direction but…

It was all happening too fast.  
First the kunai aimed at Naruto, now everyone else?!  
What on earth was happening?!

Shikamaru landed in front to of the blonde girl just in time to deflect the kunai with one of his own.  
"Ino! Get a grip!" He all but yelled.

She snapped out of her daze and grabbed some shuriken of her own. She hurled them into the shrubbery surrounding the training ground. Hearing nothing to indicate they had hit. She stopped to focus her Chakra, before forming a simple looking seal with her hands.

"What are you doing? This is no time for practicing your Chakra control!" Sasuke yelled deflecting yet more kunai as he edged closer to them.  
"Shut up! I'm looking for them using mental waves! This is hard!" she yelled back before focusing on the technique again. Focusing the Chakra in the middle of her forehead, she forced it outwards.

Naruto soon joined Shikamaru; busy deflecting the kunai aimed their way.

"Anything?" he asked. He had seen the technique before. Being raised by her father for several years, he could not have not seen it.  
"Urgh… kind of…" Ino had her eyes closed, and her face scrunched up from the effort of concentration.

"Where then?!" Sasuke landed with them, forming a circle around the girl. "We can't hold up against them for much longer! I don't think you realise it but these people are actual ninja!"  
"I know! Stop harping on at me! I only started learning this last week!" Her brow furrowed. The waves of Chakra were travelling slowly across the area, but she was not hitting any… There!

"There two to the south-east… I think they're on top of that giant rock… I can't tell for sure… the trees are messing up my technique…" she concentrated again, as Naruto hurled several kunai in the direction she stated.

"North… near some sort of shrine… I think it's the main one…" Sasuke threw shuriken in that direction. He hoped to god they hit. It might not be hard for a normal ninja, but they were just out of their second year. They didn't have the strength required for such long-distance throws.

"Did they get hit?" Shikamaru asked, thinking along the same lines as Sasuke.  
"Erk… Crap! …No! Go the other way!...... No! The other left!" Ino was breathing heavily. She had said the technique was a new one and it showed. She was quickly loosing control over it.

Naruto kept a concerned glance on her; unfortunately, it distracted him enough for a kunai to lodge itself in his arm. There was a sickening crack accompanying it as it lodged itself in his bone.

"Fucking shit heads! That hurts you bastards!"  
"What happened? Are you okay? Naruto!" Ino lost all her concentration. Giving up on the mind locating technique, she turned to Naruto. He looked pale, and was shaking. Seeing the kunai, she too paled.

"I'm fine Ino! Just concentrate on keep those kunai away! They're getting impatient now!" Ino frowned at him but did as he instructed, and pulled her own kunai out of her holster.

"Oi lazy! Can you do that shadow thing again?" Sasuke yelled. There was a clang as he deflected several shuriken.  
"No point. I can't use it for long, and the moment we step out of it, were out of the shield. Besides, you'll be stuck to the ground." he let fly several kunai to deflect the ones headed their way.

"Fuck! And I can't use any fire techniques… its too far… Naruto! Do you have anything?"  
"Only the stuff from the academy… face it! We're up shit creek!"  
"Will you stop swearing?!" Sasuke berated him, throwing the last of his shuriken to deflect the ones thrown towards them.  
"What the fuck does it matter about my language at this point?" Naruto hurled another kunai in the direction Ino had first identified.  
"Will you two shut up! This isn't the time for one of your lovers' quarrels!" Ino screeched, deflecting the shuriken with a kunai.  
"STOP SAYING THAT BANSHEE!"  
"What did you just call me?"

"ALL OF YOU BE QUIET! THIS IS BAD ENOUGH WITHOUT YOU LOT HACKING AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS! Shikamaru yelled at them. His eyebrow was twitching. The other three were silent in the face of what was the beginning of Nara-Wrath.

Shikamaru was close to breaking point. He had various scenarios in his head, but they were not good enough. The constant hail of weapons was impossible to escape as they were stuck in the middle of the training grounds.

Not to mention the fact the whole scenario bothered him. Why were they just using weapons? They couldn't be too far away for them to use ninja techniques. They had a longer range than weapons. Did they really want to keep their identities a secret that badly? This whole situation was a giving him a pain in the ass headache.

They needed to get it touch with someone but how?! Unless one of them was telepathic then there was no way…  
He let out a string of curses for his own stupidity.

* * *

_**It's a bird! I'ts a plane! It's a cookie!  
Sorry to dissapoint you, minions and duckies, but its an Update!  
*Le Gasp!***_

_**The fudge?! an update you say?!  
Aye, matey. It be an update!  
**__**...Since when do you update?!  
...Good question. Unfortunatley you are not yet ready for the answer, my young aprentice.  
**__**...are you on crack?  
no, but i do have problems staying away from vimto, ginger beer, fruitella, and toast.  
**__**...You arent supposed to admit that.  
Shut Up! You're just jealous of my individuality!  
**__********__Y_ou mean mental instability?  
Yeah, that too!  
_**...  
......What?  
**__**...  
......Oh crap! i wasnt supposed to admist that!  
Remind me... Why do i talk to you again?  
Because you're my MUSEYKINS!  
**_  
_**:P  
Live the insanity. Its better than reality, I swear to the demon lord. even if he does send Karma after your butt. GOD DAMN THAT KARMA!**_

_**Reveiw my minions!  
i'll give you dougnuts this time.**_  
**_Now press the button.  
Press ittttttt......_**

**_Much love, my minions and duckies.  
Natarii._**


	3. The Cogs Begin To Turn

_**Alright, Mr Lawyer answer me this:**_

___**DO I LOOK JAPANESE TO YOU?! DO I? I DON'T EVEN LIVE IN JAPAN YOU MORON! HOW CAN I OWN NARUTO WHAEN I DON'T EVEN LIVE IN THE COUNTRY OF IT'S PUBLICATION?!  
God, you are stupid!  
If I owned naruto that last incident involvolving Danzo + Hokage % by the square root of Sharingan - crazy lightning ninjas would not have happened!**_

_**More swearing, plotting, conspiring, slight em-oness. no repeating the swearing kiddlikies.  
I don't want no raging parents following me becuase you said bad words, thank you.**__**

* * *

**They needed to get in touch with someone but how?! Unless one of them was telepathic then there was no way...  
He let out a string of curses for his own stupidity._

"Ino… Can you use your Clan's Telepathy yet?" Shikamaru asked in a calmer voice.  
"Huh?"  
"The Telepathy! The thing where you can contact your Clan members! Your Bloodline! God, how can you forget about it?!" Sasuke snapped. He was quickly loosing his temper. Having used up all of his shuriken, he was using a kunai in each hand to deflect to weapons being thrown their way.

"In theory… I have an idea of how it works but…" she left it hanging.  
"Well… Try. Crouch down in the middle of us and concentrate. We need help and your telepathy is the only thing I can think of that can contact someone."

Ino looked dubious but obeyed Shikamaru's instructions anyway. After crouching, she made the seal for focusing her Chakra. She shouldn't need it, but this was her first time trying the technique. It was similar to the one she had just used; only she was supposed to focus on locating the anchor all Yamanakas had in their mind. By latching onto it, and the others doing the same to her, she would send her thoughts to the selected mind without loosing consciousness. Easy Peasy.

Pft. Like hell.  
It was like searching for a needle in a haystack, and then splitting the needle into hairline thin strips with her nails. The Yamanaka clan was tiny. They had roughly 200 members. Konoha had well over 10,000 residents. They were the smallest clan in existence. Though only one smaller that themselves was the Namikaze clan, and they had all been wiped out in the Kyuubi attack.

After she completed the painstaking, ask of locating the Yamanaka clan members, she had to focus on finding a familiar Chakra signature. The more she knew the person, the better the chances of the technique working.  
By sheer dumb luck, she stumbled across the mind of her father. She frantically garbed hold of the anchor, refusing to let go of it.

* * *

Naruto finally succumbed to the wound on his arm. He failed to deflect the kunai, and the two knives lodged themselves in his shoulder and in his side. Blood spurted from the wounds and from his mouth and he collapsed.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled As Sasuke turned to see Naruto collapse, several shuriken embedded themselves in his left side. He hissed in pain, but still managed to continue deflecting the kunai.

Shikamaru was coping only slightly better. He didn't have any weapons sticking out of him, but he did have a lot of nasty gashes (including one from a kunai that had gotten dangerously close to his eye). As the minuets ticked by, his movements became more and more sluggish, until he also had a small collection of shuriken embedded in his chest. They were not buried deeply, but it was enough to slow his movements drastically.

Ino was too busy trying to contact one of her clan members for help to be of any use, Sasuke might as well have been fighting all by himself. It was almost impossible. He could barley see the kunai until they got close. Once Shikamaru began to slow down it was like trying to defend against an army to the young academy student. He strained his eyes. Trying to see the kunai being thrown in their direction.

* * *

Inochi Yamanaka was going over a pile of paperwork in his office when he felt the barrage against the anchor in his mind. He clutched his head as the psychological waves echoed through him. It felt like being hit with a ten-ton set of weights on his head. Whoever was trying to contact him was either new to the technique or in a life and death situation.

After recovering from the initial psychological shock, he concentrated on his anchor and followed the trail of Chakra to his fellow clan member; grasping their anchor much more delicately than they had his.

'_Who is it? My head feels like someone dropped a set of ten-ton weights on it! Loosen your hold a bit!'_ they loosened the hold, but Inochi was paying more attention to the person echoing their thoughts through his mind.

'_Dad! It's me! Ino!'  
_'_Ino?! When did you-'  
_'_There's no time! Someone is attacking us! We were training and then a kunai came out of nowhere and then more did and I used mind location but Naruto got hit and then I tried this and Naruto collapsed and Shika and Sasuke are full of shuriken and-'_

'_Ino calm down! I get it. You're in trouble, yes?'  
_'_This goes beyond trouble! This is a calamity! Shikamaru was swearing! Naruto is unconscious! I think they wanted him originally but now they're going after all of us!'  
_'_Alright, I'm on my way. Where are you?'_

'_Were at the Uchiha train grounds for the main family… dad please hurry! Sasuke and Shika don't look good and I think I'm about to pass out! This is really hard to hold onto…'  
_'_I won't be long. I'm pretty close. 10 minuets maximum.'  
_'_Please hurry! Like now old man!'_

And his daughter finally released her hold on his anchor. Once she let go, he could still feel the effects of her Herculean grip on his mind. Well it was her first time using the technique… as he rushed out of his office, he ran past the black operatives head office. On a spur of the moment, he rushed in looking for a certain Uchiha ANBU captain.

Itachi was eating his lunch when Inochi appeared before him. After listening to the older man's story, he frowned before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Inochi ran out of the building and raced towards the Uchiha compound. He would have liked to go to hi daughters aid himself, considering the mental strain she had put on herself from the telepathy and mind locating technique, but someone had to inform Fugaku of the incident.

Some members of the Uchiha clan were determined to get rid of the only Namikaze left in Konoha. Apparently, there were still people who hated the family. In addition, they were determined remove any future allies at the same time.  
The fact it might have caused a civil war between the clans was apparently of no consequence.

* * *

Sasuke let out another hiss as another shuriken sunk into the flesh of his leg. Shikamaru had long since succumbed to his own injuries. The constant agitation from the movements of his arms had agitated and pushed them further into his body. As a result, he appeared to having a harder time breathing than normal.

"Sas...uke…" He heard Ino's raspy voice. She seemed exhausted from all the techniques she had been using. He couldn't see, but there was no doubt in his mind she was barley staying conscious. He had never imagined that mental techniques could be this exhausting. Then again, they were nine...

Well, naruto was ten, but that was beside the point.  
The point was, they were too young to use any straining techniques.

"Did you get in contact with someone?" he asked, quickly deflecting several Kunai, ducking to avoid two giant shuriken.

"M-my… dad… he's coming…" He didn't hear the rest of the sentence since she collapsed on top of Naruto. If the situation had been different, he would have teased her mercilessly later on. However, he did not. He had the jist of the message; he father had been informed. Help was on the way.

He concentrated on blocking the rain of metal. At least he could see them now. Whoever was throwing them must be tiring. They were much easier to see. He didn't have enough energy to get all of them, but he got enough. Unfortunately, his failing stamina was his downfall.  
He failed to notice a larger than average shuriken. It was about twice the size of a normal one, but Sasuke was so occupied with the weapons in front of him he forgot about the ones coming fro the other direction.

He fell to his knees, screaming from the pain in his back.  
With the addition of the new injury, he was only able to use one arm, the pain made it impossible to use both and even then - many of the weapons being hurled in their direction hit their targets. Thankfully, they were using less of them, so not many of them were actually connecting with the flesh of his companions.

Sasuke managed to keep this up for several minuets before the effects of the shuriken began to take their toll. He was still awake, but all of a sudden, his suddenly perfect vision failed -leaving an itchy, burning sensation in his eyes. His strength seemed to disappear. As he fell face down onto the dirt of the training ground, he silently prayed that help would reach them in time.

He could feel his body growing closer to temporary shut down every second.

"Ino! Naruto!" he was suddenly aware of Ino's father fussing over the two blonds.  
Finally!

"Good lord, I leave them alone for an hour and everything falls to pieces."  
"Ita…chi…"  
"Sasuke!" his brother crouched over him, worry gracing his features "Sasuke! What happened?"

"I don't… training and then… weapons all over the place… Naruto got hit really bad… my eyes were…" Those last words sent Sasuke into unconsciousness.  


* * *

When he awoke, he was in a sewer. It seemed familiar, which was odd. He did not recall visiting any sewers.  
He sat up and looked around, trying to find some sort of indication as to his location. He saw a cage, with a piece of paper on the gates.  
He couldn't read what was written, but he guessed it was probably best not to touch it.

"_So you are awake brat."_

Huh? That voice seemed familiar.  
Looking further into the cage, he could see a dark shape moving around.

"Who are you? No, what are you?"  
"_Humph. I see you do not remember our last encounter."  
_"What are you talking about? What happened? And where am I?"  
"_Shut up brat! Your incessant yelling causes me severe migraines."  
_"Tell me what's going on!"  
"_You collapsed. The wounds you received during your fight against the sharp metal things caused you to pass out from blood loss. In addition, you are… inside yourself. Something like that. I do not know! Do I look like I know how your puny human mind operates?"  
_"Metal things?"

What in the name of Ramen was this thing talking about? More to the point, what was this thing-in-the-cage? And what battle was it going on abou-

"Oh god! What happened? Where's Ino? What happened to the bastard and lazy ass?! How do I get ou-"  
"_Urgh. Cease your constant jabbering. I have no knowledge of the other humans or the human vixen. I only know you were wounded. Besides, I could car less"_

"You bastard! They're my friends! I have to wake up! How do I wake up?!"  
_"You will wake up when your body has healed… which should be about know since my Charka is healing you, though slowly. A foreign substance is causing the process to be much slower than normal" _

As the voice said this, A white light seemed to appear and Naruto felt him self being pulled away from the sewer-cage.

"What the hell do you mean healing? What Chakra? What the hell are you?!" he yelled as the cage faded from his vision, replaced by blinding whiteness. He almost mishear the voice grumble  
_"you'll find out eventually"

* * *

_Ino was the first to recover. She had received scratches for the most part; her only serious injury - thanks to Naruto's efforts - had been one measly shuriken in her left thigh. She had been knocked out for a day or so, but that was to allow her brain to recover from the stress she had placed on from her use of her family's techniques.

Her father had, of course, been worried, but the first thing he did was tell her how proud he had been. She had finally succeeded in the usage of her family's telepathy bloodline. She was beside her self with happiness when he told her that.

This did not last long though. After informing her father, Fugaku, and even the Hokage of the events that took place several grim looking frowns appeared. This worried Ino for some reason. She was only nine, but she was not stupid. However, she also knew she would not understand the affairs of adults even if she asked, so she kept her silence.

Instead, she went to check on Naruto, and was not happy with what she found.  
Sasuke, Naruto, and shikamaru still hant woken up.

In the end, Shikamaru and Sasuke both woke up after three days of unconsciousness. Sasuke's mother had almost suffocated him, again. Much to his dismay, even his father had pulled him into a brief-yet-bone-crushing hug. Even scarier - Itachi had glomped him. Itachi did not glomp people. Ino had never seen so much blatant emotion displayed by the two elder Uchiha males.

He found him self in another of his mothers suffocating embraces when, recounting his version of the attack, he mentioned his improved eyesight.

"My baby boy activated his Sharingan!" she squealed, before jumping on her husband. He staggered slightly, but ignored Itachi's sniggers. "Both my babies! Both of them! My babies are geniuses!"

Itachi had been around seven or eight when his Sharingan activated. Although Sasuke was a bit late, he had still activated the bloodline relatively earlier than normal. Fugaku sighed as his wife continued to squeal, though he did send Sasuke an approving smile. Itachi flicked his forehead, much to Sasuke's irritation.

Shikamaru's family was much less exuberant than the Uchihas.  
Well than Mikoto was.

His mother squeezed the living daylights out of him, scolding him for worrying her so much. His father simply asked him if he wanted to play a game of Shogi. If Yoshino was annoyed at her husband's apparent lack of concern she dint show it, placing their marriage problems to the backbench. Her aura softened however, when she saw how close he came to loosing the game.

Shikamaru's two-year-old sister Yoshiko, by far, was the most open with her emotions. She wailed and begged Shikamaru 'dun go shweepies' for so long again, and threw a tantrum when her parents told her it was time for them to go home. It took them minutes to convince her to let go of her brother's arm.

The girl had one of the worst brother complexes ever to be seen in Konoha. The fact she came from one of the most apathetic clans in Konoha made the whole thing even more baffling.

The remaining 11 days were a nightmare for the blonde girl.  
If she had been worried when she waited for Shikamaru and Sasuke to wake up, then she was frantic when doing the same for Naruto. She barley left the hospital for anything other than school, and only at her father's insistence. Shikamaru, though he claimed it to be a pain in the ass, was just as worried.

It was not his injuries that were the problem. They were healing exceptionally quickly; most had nearly closed whilst Shikamaru and Sasuke still had several bandages wrapped on their body.

The problem was supposedly blood loss, but Ino did not quite believe that.  
Shikamaru's snort when she informed him of this only served to heighten her suspicions. The wound on his arm, though healing, had a purple tinge surrounding it, and the veins visible through his skin were a similar colour.

They had been taught to recognise signs of poison, and they were obvious.

The adults did not seem to be worried about the poison. More so, the attack itself. None of the younger generation were aware of the methods people would go to for political gain however, so they failed to realise just how big of an incident the attack had been. Or maybe they were simply too worried about their friend to care.

* * *

Sasuke looked like he had lost a limb, which did surprise the other two in any way. Sasuke and Naruto had been joined at the hip since Naruto had fallen trough his roof all those years ago. Not that Shikamaru had not been either, but Sasuke had known the blond longer than he had. He knew Sasuke would be just as worried if it was him, it would just be shown differently.

As the son of a clan head, Sasuke had a lot of expectations to live up to, and though he never mentioned it Shikamaru knew that he sometimes had difficulties living up to them. He and Ino were also heirs to their own clans, but the simple fact was he didn't care about expectations and his father only gave him one - graduate. As for Ino, her clan found a creative mind more useful than an intelligent one for the interrogation and information gathering skills they prided themselves on.

Sasuke's clan was different. they valued brains _and _creativity, and their pride was well known. The fact he chased his older brothers shadow did not help matters much. Sasuke was also similar to his father in terms of personality, from what the young Nara had observed. It was not that he was unsocial, he just had difficulty expressing his emotions - something made only worse by constant expectations.

Therefore, when Sasuke received a C grade for the test on Konoha's history and the second great ninja war, Shikamaru realized that Sasuke was close to having the Uchiha equivalent of a panic attack.  
Shikamaru, though just as worried, was much calmer in his actions and appearance. Yes, he was worried, but he had confidence in the medical facilities the hospital provided. He had also noticed that Naruto healed rapidly. Very presumed this incident would be no different.

Shikamaru had been born minuets before Ino. They had known each other since birth, along with Choji. They were literally family. His mother had originally been a Yamanaka, Inochis sister. Ino's mother had been a Akimici, sister to Choza. He and Choji were both direct cousins of Ino, and distant cousins of each other through her.

Their families had gone past teamwork to family and they were the result, expected to take after their fathers and reform the Ino-Shika-Cho trio their families prided themselves on. Having been so close for so long, he had seen hundreds of expressions on her face. In all that time, he had never seen he look as she did now. She was jumpy for one thing. Ino was never jumpy. She caused jumpiness; she did not suffer from it.

It was like looking at a completely different person.

He knew that until he had passed his sixth birthday by half a year, Inochi had adopted Naruto. However, despite knowing ino as well as he had, he had never really seen the boy. He knew of his existence, just never met him directly. Naruto hadn't been a very social kid growing up, and avoided him whenever he visited Ino and her father.

The most he ever caught of him was a flash of blonde hair dissapering behind a door. The first time they actually met was when Naruto had challenged him to a fight for the glory of ramen with Sasuke.

Despite the large amount of things he didn't know about Naruto, one thing he did know was that he and Ino were joined at the hip. If you couldn't find Naruto, and he wasn't with Sasuke (or occasionally himself) then he would be with Ino. Vice versa, if Ino wasn't with Sakura (or occasionally himself) then she would be with Naruto.

It took a lot to make Ino cry, she wasn't the type to get teary eyed and wait for someone to rescue her like Sakura could be. She much preffered to yell cursees at the offender and proced to get her revenge by blitzing their minds a bit (this was were he and the other two boys usually intervened). But, when it came to Naruto, it was a different story. Naruto, not that he realized, could send Ino into tears with a few words sometimes. Tears of joy, tears of sadeness, tears of frustration, take your pick.

When Naruto had informed the Yamanaka's of his wish to live alone, ino had come running to him with tears in her eyes asking if she had done something to upset him - since this was the only reason she cold think of for him wanting to leave. Shikamaru had somehow convinced otherwise, and she had gone home. After talking to the blonde-haired girl, she was back to her usual boisterous self.

he watched her faffing around with the bed sheets, making sure all the tubes poking into Naruto's arm were secure, and falling of her chair every time one of the monitor machines beeped or blipped, he knew that she was as terrified as she had been under the hail of weapons, even if she didn't show it at the time. He wondered how much self control it was taking her not to break down.

* * *

Fugaku rubbed his temples in frustration as he contemplated Itachi's report.

They had found no information on who had been responsible for the attack on the four children, or at least nothing that pointed to a particular individual or group of people. They knew at least one of his own clan members had made the attack. Not that narrowed it down much, excluding civilian members; the Uchiha clan was still over 1000 members strong.

Even more worrying, was knew that many people in the village dislike his youngest son's best friend due to the demon contained within his body, however very few would even consider acting upon their distaste. This made Fugaku ponder the possibility of there being some leftover diehard Uchiha Activists amongst his clan.

He had presumed that the majority had been wiped out during the Kyuubi attack (served them right), but he did wonder.  
Moreover, if his musings were correct then…  
Well, that was a possibility he desperately wanted to avoid. He had tried reasoning with activists before and failed. Their actins had resulted in one of Konoha's best clan partnerships being severed, and the destruction of half the village.

Fugaku silently prayed to the gods that he was not dealing with leftover activists.  
However, the knot of dread in his stomach remained.

* * *

The first thing Naruto was aware of when he awoke was pain. Really, why was it that whenever he fell unconscious he was always greeted by pain when he woke up? Was this going to turn into a regular occurrence? He hoped not.

He was also aware of some weight on his legs. It was not particularly heavy, but it was restricting movement a bit. Ignoring his slightly bleary vision, he forced himself into a sitting position, wincing at the pain in his upper arm as he strained the damaged bone and muscles.

Looking around he recognised the area as a private hospital room.  
How in the hell did he get one of those?

Movement from the weight on his legs caught his attention.  
"Urgh… what time is- Naruto!"

Naruto felt himself being suffocated, again.  
Really, what was it with the suffocating awakenings? He was jolted from his thoughts by the sound of Ino's tears. He realised the suffocating wa really a hug. Awkwardly, he returned it, and was able to breathe a little better. but that was not important right now.  
what was important, was Ino.

What was he supposed to do?! Ino did not cry! He had witnessed it only a few times in his short life, and he had never been much of a comfort. Why was Ino crying in the first place?  
Oh god, was he dying? Nah. That whatever-the hell-it-was said it was healing. For some reason it seemed to be in its own best interests to do so, so he would warily trust the creature.  
This meant he was not dying.

Oh god! Sasuke! Shikamaru! What had happened to them? Were they hurt?

"Don't you dare do that again!" She was sitting on his bed, yelling into his shoulder.  
"Do what?" She leaned back, placing her hands on his shoulders forcing her to face him.  
Her glare would give him nightmares for weeks.

"Don't make me worry so much! Don't make Sasuke or Shikamaru worry so much you idiot!" She yelled swatting his head.

He was stunned for a moment. that was why she had trned into an un-Ino-like blubbering wreck? He had never expected someone to be so worried about him. They were friends and all, had literally been brought up together, but he had never expected her to worry enough to be reduced to tears.

His shock passed however, and he smiled before pulling her to a one armed hug with his un-injured arm. She returned it with a full one, which aggravated his wound slightly but he ignored it. Ino clenched the back of the pyjama shirt the hospital had dressed him in, sobbing lightly (because hell would freeze over before Ino would become hysterical) into his shoulder.

"Sorry Ino."  
"Idiot." She sniffed.

* * *

Aside from occasionally falling through the roof of Sasuke's house, and a horrible 3 week period during which Ichiraku's closed for renovations, the remaining years passed with little incident. None the three stooges and the piggy were aware of at any rate.

After the incident at the Uchiha compound, they had a member of the ANBU watching over them at all times. Any incidents, though very rare, were dealt with before the four children were aware they were even happening. However, despite the best efforts of Ibiki, Anko, and Inochi the main motive behind the attacks was still unknown.

Sasuke, in those four remaining years, finally achieved the 1st place position in class rankings. This was mostly due to threats of bodily harm from Naruto if he let his grades continue to slide. His Sharingan stubbornly refused to advance to the second level, but he did learn a few of his family's fire techniques.

Shikamaru changed very little, if anything changed, it was his attitude towards his parents. Shikaku and Yoshino were still at each other's necks, and Shikamaru began to take more initiative in keeping his little sister out from under their parents' arguments. He often dragged her with him when he took refuge with either Sasuke or Naruto when things became particularly bad. Regarding his grades however, he remained at a comfortable barley-passing level.

Ino became closer to Sakura despite their rivalry, and claimed the title of Top girl. Unlike many of her fellow female classmates, she did not become obsessed with Sasuke, probably because she had known him for so long. Instead, she found herself increasingly irritated by Naruto's attentions towards her pink-haired rival. Not that she would ever admit it.

Naruto, thanks to Itachi's lessons with the alphabet, had finally managed to increase his standing in class to third place (Unless Ino's ranking was included - in which case he placed fourth). His Chakra control, though still depressingly abysmal, had also vastly improved. During the four passing years, he developed a minor crush on Sakura. Why Ino chose to clobber him every time he tried to flirt with the girl however left him utterly confused.

Unfortunately, his ability to produce a clone did not improve.  
His heart sank when he heard Iruka call out the name of the technique they would be tested on. He had no problems with anything else thanks to some Spartan training sessions courtesy of Itachi and Inochi, but the clone technique continued to be the inescapable thorn in his side.

Naruto was not stupid. It had taken longer than his friends, but had eventually figured out that someone did not want him to graduate, most likely for the same reasons Katahara-Sensei had tried to blow him up (Ye he'd figured that one out too once he learned to read properly) and the reasons many of the villagers disliked him.

However, the apologetic look on Iruka-Sensei's face told him there was no ill intent this time around, so he decided he would just have to suck it up and repeat the final year at the academy. At least he wouldn't be repeating his first year this time. He could feel the supposedly non-existent worried glance from Sasuke on his left, and the exasperated aura from Shikamaru, who was seated on Ino's right.

A glance at Ino shows a mixed expression, but the most predominant emotion decorating her features was determination.

"Don't even think about it." He muttered as Iruka called Choji down for his test.  
"T-Think about what?" She asked. A brief flash of panic and guilt crossed her face.  
"You know exactly what I mean Ino." Naruto grumbled as Sasuke left his seat.  
"I don't know what you're talking abou-"

She was interrupted by the indication from Iruka that it was Naruto's turn to attempt the test. As Naruto got up from his seat, he bent closer to her to avoid being overheard.

"If I see one sign that you're going to fail this deliberately because of me I'll never forgive you for it Ino!" he hissed at her. He walked down to the front of the class to perform the test, ignoring the stunned, hurt look on the blonde girls face. He received a questioning look from Sasuke, who noticed his less than cheerful demeanour, as they passed each other but he ignored this too.

"What was all that about? He looked pissed..." Sasuke asked sitting down in his seat, Konoha forehead protector tied across his forehead. Ino didn't answer him, instead focusing her gaze on Naruto, who was desperately trying to force his Chakra to form the simple clone technique. She could see the sweat forming on his forehead from the effort.

She knew why he had snapped at her.  
It was for the same reasons he had never asked her or her father or anyone else for help with his reading problems. He didn't want to cause any problems for them.

But still…  
She couldn't help but feel like he stomped all over her and spat on the remains. Surely he could tell she was worried about him? That she didn't want him to repeat another year at the academy by himself? That she didn't want to graduate without him?  
Why did he have to be so horrible about it?

Sasuke and Shikamaru had been giving her concerned glances when she refused to answer Sasuke's question, but their attention was dragged to the front of the classroom when Iruka spoke the words that they hap been hoping would never leave his lips;

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I have to fail you"

* * *

Naruto ignored Sasuke's call as he calmly walked out of the room. After he had walked down the hall some ways, he broke into a run and made a mad dash for the exit. The building was suffocating him. He had believed this was his last year in the academy, that he would finally graduate.

Itachi had corrected his problems with the language, Fugaku, Inochi, and Shikaku had all helped with his physical training. Shikamaru had made sure he finished his homework instead of goofing off (Hypocrite), Sasuke had forced him into his own Spartan training with his Kunai and Shuriken, and Ino had been there to take care of his wounds and made sure he ate something other than ramen when it was all over (As well as bullying him into practicing her own drills in Chakra control).

They had all done so much for him, and what did he have to show for it? What did he have to show for his efforts that had had landed him in hospital from Chakra exhaustion on more than one occasion?  
Nothing.

All because of his abysmal clone-making skills. Why? Why did he consistently fail to execute one of the simplest techniques in the book? Why was it always the Clone Technique that was used for the final exam? Why was it always him that was forced to watch his classmates graduate?

He would have to watch Sasuke Shikamaru and Ino leave. Watch them be congratulated by their families. Then he would feel even worse, not because he would not be graduating but because he did not have any family to reassure him and tell him he would get it the next time. As close as he was to Inochi, the Naras and Sasuke's family, they would never replace his Mother, despite the fact he could barley remember her.

He found himself in the same places as he was every year. The swing in the corner of the academy grounds. He saw Sasuke being attacked by his mother yet again, Itachi's smirk, and the almost non-existent smile on his father's face - the one that showed how proud he was.

Ino was jumping up and down from giddy-happiness in front of her father, who was promising her favourite meal - Okonomiyaki - for dinner to celebrate. Shikamaru was trying to remove his limpet-like sister from his side as she gushed about how amazing he was. He could see the pride in his father's lazy gaze, and that despite the issues his mother had with his being a ninja (which he was. They were all Genin now), she was still happy for him.

As he watched these events unfold, he did not fail to hear the whispers from some of the adults

"_That's the kid, right?"  
_"_He's the only one who didn't pass, not surprising though considering…"  
_"_Shh! that's forbidden! Let's go. Its bad enough being in the same village as him, let's not stay near him longer than necessary"_

A laugh from the second woman gave Naruto his cue to leave.

* * *

Sasuke watched as Naruto rose from his set on the swing. He had heard the two women whispering, and though he was missing some key details, he did not fail to catch the disdain in their voices. He knew Naruto heard them, since he was closer to the women than he was.

He made to follow his friend only to feel someone place a firm hand on his shoulder, preventing him from following through with his actions.  
"Let him be Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at his brother as if he was crazy, though no one other than another Uchiha or his friends would have been able to tell.  
"You heard those women didn't you? I have to mak-"  
"If you go you'll only be making things worse. You know how much he wanted to graduate." Itachi gently interrupted.  
Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. He had not even thought about that.

"Give him some time alone for a while." Itachi advised, before going back towards their parents. Sasuke looked to Ino, noting the pained worry on her face. Her father seemed to be giving her the same talk Itachi had just given him. Shikamaru was also glancing in the direction Naruto had left in, however he made no move to go after him. Shikamaru was always three steps ahead.

As much as his screamed to do otherwise he stayed with his family, deciding that Itachi was probably right, and that it would be best to leave Naruto alone for the time being. Itachi did his best to distract him but it still did not stop the knot of worry from forming inside him.

* * *

Naruto had left the academy in favour of his apartment, in particular the balcony that stuck out at the end of the building. It would be the last pace anyone would think to look for him. The sun was setting behind Hokage Mountain and the village looked beautiful in the warm glow, in Naruto's opinion anyway.

"Naruto? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be celebrating with the others?"

Tearing his gaze from the view of the village, Naruto looked behind him to see Mizuki, one of his teachers from the academy. Normally he would have loudly greeted the man, but he simply turned his gaze back to the picturesque village.

"I see." The man spoke softly. Had Naruto been looking at the man's face he would have seen a smirk instead of the friendly smile he was familiar with.

"It's not fair." Naruto spoke quietly as the man sat down next to him.  
"Pardon?"  
"It's not fair. I worked harder than anyone else, but I'm being left behind _again_. All because of that one stupid technique…" he muttered, slightly louder this time. Out of Naruto's line of sight, Mizuki's smirk grew broader.

"You know, there's another way to pass to test. Its kind out-dated now so it isn't so much, but it's still valid. You could take that one if you really want to pass that badly…" Mizuki left the bait hanging. All that was left was for Naruto to bite.

Naruto considered Mizuki's offer. He knew that several people in the academy had been doing whatever they could to make life harder for him, but Mizuki had never really seemed to be like that. In fact, he had helped him out on several occasions that had been very beneficial. Considering all this, Naruto decided to ignore the niggling sense that told him things were not as they seemed. Mizuki seemed trustworthy, and he badly wanted to graduate.

"Really? What is it? What do I do? Just tell me what to do and I'll be done so quick you won't have time to blink!" Naruto cried, with a bit more of his usual bravado.

Mizuki's smirk deepened.  
Hook. Line. And sinker.

* * *

The third Hokage felt like banding his wrinkled head on his desk when he read the results on the Graduation exam. Since the people sabotaging the exam to prevent Naruto from graduating had been removed, had presumed the boy would pass this year. Unfortunately, the test this year really was the Clone technique. He hoped the boy did not do anything stupid.

He also felt like strangling something when he read Fugaku and Inochi's investigative reports. Whoever had been behind the attack had been very thorough. They were scrabbling for any crumb of evidence or miniscule hint they could find. Any suspects sent to Ibiki and Inochi proved useless since their memories had been wiped completely. The brain cells containing the information had actually been destroyed. Fugaku could not investigate his own clan without bringing suspicion upon himself so they had very little information from him as well.

As far as the man could tell, whoever the brains behind the movements was, was a very skilled ninja, and a very ruthless one. Destroying a persons brain cells containing specific memories was a very difficult task, but damaged the part of the brain dedicated to memory beyond repair.

He was interrupted form his thoughts by a crash coming from the room containing the forbidden scrolls, and left his desk to investigate. The sight that greeted him made him want to scream in frustration. Naruto was pulling the scroll out of their shelf left right and centre. He was obviously looking for one in particular, and apparently, he found it just as the Hokage voiced his presence.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

The boy froze, before whipping his head round to find the old man standing in the doorway, blocking his only escape route. His eyes seemed to widen in surprise for a moment before narrowing in determination. Receiving no answer, the Hokage decided to try again.

"Naruto, this room is off-limits, what are you doing in here?"

The boy grinned at him.  
"Sorry old man, but I'm graduating the academy!" There was a puff of smoke and a cry of 'Transform!' before Naruto walked out of the now obstruction-free doorway.

* * *

**_Alright, I have to get this out of my sytem..._**

**_First of all, there was Itachin. I know he's really a good guy, but for most of the series we thought he was a bad guy, so he counts. He had the Mangekyo-super-sharingan as well. I mean, talk about better playing cards! Even they did have bad side affects._**

**_Then we get Mandarin. He had the best bloody hand in the game cos of his freaky no-side-effect-everlasting-mangekyou-super-sharingan. This is clearly favoritism or something, because Sasuchi and Itachin were causing enough problems when he showed up but giving their crazy ancestor super poweres when he alredy had the bigest fucking konoha-grudge ever? THIS IS FAVORITISM I TELL YOU!_**

**_Thirdly we have Sasuchi, whos gone bloody mental now. He caused enough poblems when he was getting revenge on his family with a normal sharingan. Now hes going after itachi with his own mangekyo-super-sharingan!  
This isn't eactly going to help Naruto on his whole world peace thingamabob is it?_**

**_And now Danzou?! crazy i-will-be-hokage-with-my-scary-emotionless-anbu-man?! what are you smoking Kishi?! Danzou was bad enough with ROOT and being all creepy Danzo-ish in the first place! please, for the love of all that is fucking holy, please do not givie him the mangekyou-super-sharingan! We have enough of those running around without another being thown into the pie!_**

**_How are the good guys going to cope with all these bloody sharingans?! I realise Naruto has had a serious power-boost latley but did he reallky kill Pain? Did he really? Because we got an awesome battle aginst Pain's bodies, but what hapopens when he meets Nagato? They share freaking sop stories (I realise this is Naruto's thing and all but still, I wanted him to kick mr-frealy-bones ass), Nagato dies giving everyone their souls back (I dont like Shizune so this bothers me) and Konan buggers of back to rain village or wherever the fuck she went._**

SOMEHOW, I DO NOT THINK THIS IS GOING TO WORK WITH SASUCHIN!

**_Phew. Sorry about that. I've been on holiday and I couldn't upload and I had no-one to rant to. All my freinds were at the opposite end of the country. I'm using a library computer near my dad's right now. It's awful. I only get two hours a day, It takes longer than that to make grammar corrections for me. I suck at grammar and punctuation._**

**_Reveiw!  
Natarii  
xxx_**

P.S.  
If you come to the dark side we will not only give you cookies, we will give you GIANT COOKIES!

What is it with Mr Kishi and giving the bad guys the Sharingan when they have grudges against Konoha?!


	4. A Helping Hand

_**Look, I don't own it ok? I just like mangling the plotline for my own amusement and then letting other people read it.  
It's fuuuuuun. Imagine Gaara about to pull out his sand but intead he pulls out a cheese grater, or Orochin pulling out one of those giant tubey ballons instad of one of his snakeys. Hillarious!**_

**Swearage. Dont repeat unless you don't care about Parent-Wrath. And don't tell them I taught them to you.

* * *

**Naruto hated using such a cheap trick on the old man, but ninjas were supposed to be tricky weren't they? Besides, the possibility of graduating along with his friends negated and feelings of guilt.

He was currently in the middle of a deserted clearing amongst the trees that gave Konoha its name. He knew from experience that very few people knew of its existence. Not even his friends knew of the area, and he was determined to keep it that way. At the moment, he was focusing his attention on the scroll to complete the second part of the test.

Mizuki had told him he had until whenever he was caught to learn the first technique from the scroll, but that was easier said than done considering Naruto's reading abilities. The thing was written almost entirely in kanji. He knew the scroll was old, but not that old!

Even worse, the first technique on the scroll was a variation of the clone technique! His worst technique right off the bat!

Instead of screaming and ranting as he normally did, he kept calm. If he did not learn this technique he would not be able to graduate with his friends, and that simply would not do. He focused once again on the scroll, and began converting the tiresome symbols into a language he understood.

After a couple of hours, Naruto had finally gotten the hang of the hand seal. Forming the seal itself was easy enough. It was just a cross shape, but the way Chakra was expended was much harder than what he was used to. Instead of forcing a tiny amount into it, he was supposed to focus as much as he could. Moving from containing a small amount to a large amount of Chakra was harder than it sounded.

Though he was having a much easier time controlling the larger amount than he ever had with the miniscule amount Iruka wanted him to use. Not that it was a large amount, it was just much more than he normally used. In fact, by his standards, he was still using a small amount. Sensing he had enough Chakra in the seal, he let out a cry of _"Shadow Clone Technique!"_

There was a very large puff of smoke. Once it cleared Naruto was stunned to see around twenty clones staring back at him. He was stunned. He had used hardly any Chakra and he had made twenty clones?! Functioning ones no less! Why had they not taught this in the academy?! This method was so much easier!

Eagerly, he made the cross shaped seal once again, and began focusing as much Chakra as he could into it. If he got twenty clones with (what he considered) such little Chakra, how many would he get with a large amount? Or as much as he could use without collapsing?

* * *

The Hokage watched as Naruto formed the cross shaped seal for must have bee the hundredth time in only two hours. He was amazed with the boy's progress. Very few people could master a technique from that scroll in under a week, yet Naruto had done it in a couple of hours.

He truly was his father's son. He could not afford to be impressed for long, however.  
Mizuki had made his appearance.

* * *

"Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto called out to the schoolteacher. "Mizuki-sensei! I did it! That means I graduate right?"

Mizuki raised an eyebrow at the excited thirteen-year-old standing in front of him, but made no other movements.  
"Really? Well done. I came to tell you that your times up, so you can give me the scroll. I'll take it back to the Hokage's office for you."

"I passed right?" Naruto asked, making no move to hand the scroll to the Chunin.  
"Yes, you passed, now give the scroll Naruto." has said, his tone sharper from his irritation.

Naruto noticed his tone and hesitated.  
"Are you sure? I can take it back myself Mizuki-sensei. I don't want to send you out of your way..." he said cautiously. Naruto was beginning to think he should have relied on the small part of him mind that had told him not to trust Mizuki.

* * *

The Hokage decided he had waited long enough to make his move. Mizuki was now attempting to reclaim the scroll from Naruto for his own uses. Thankfully, Naruto seemed to have realised something was amiss and was delaying him.

However, that would only last so long. Mizuki was not a patient man by nature. It was only a matter of time before he tried to take the scroll by force. He needed to send someone to deal with the situation.  
The question was who?Naruto was beginning to get nervous. There had been a long awkward silence when he had offered to the scroll back himself, and Mizuki still had not answered him. There was no doubt in his mind now that Mizuki was up to no good, but there was only so much he could do.~  
He needed help!

There was a small rustle in the bushes to his left; Naruto quickly glanced in the direction the noise had come from.  
There was nothing there that he could see…

* * *

"Don't be silly Naruto, that's a very important scroll. It would be terrible if it were damaged. I'll make sure it gets back to the Hokage safely." Mizuki finally broke the silence, a slimy smile on his face as he took a step forward.

Naruto, his mind back on the Chunin, took two steps back.  
"No, its fine. I want to go see the old man anyway so I can tell him I finally graduated!" Naruto said excitedly, an idiotic smile plastered on his face for Mizuki's benefit.

Mizuki felt his plans falling apart. If the brat went to the Hokage to tell him about the supposed 'alternative exam', he would be in the holding cells before he had the time to try to defend himself.  
"Give me that scroll you brat!" He screamed lunging towards the boy.

Naruto dodged the man and took off into the forest, trying to put some distance between himself and the crazed Chunin. Why had he ignored his instincts? Was he so desperate to graduate that he had ignored the most basic of the ninja rules? Naruto made a vow never to ignore his instincts again as he jumped form one tree branch to another.

As he jumped out from a tree branch, a familiar voice called out to him.  
"Naruto!"

* * *

Ino was in the middle of watering the plants in her family's shop when her father appeared at the door to the main house.

"Ino, were going to see the Hokage. Make sure you lock up properly, ok?"  
"The Hokage? She asked in surprise "Why?"

She received no answer from her father for several moments before a grim look appeared on his usually smiling face.  
"Something's happened. Something involving Naruto." he informed her seriously.

Ino dropped the watering can. She stood there for a moment before racing around the shop like a hyperactive chipmunk.  
She had never locked up the shop so fast in her life.

* * *

"Naruto!" a voice called out from behind him. Turning to look back, Naruto saw Iruka coming up from the rear.

"Naruto give me the scroll! I'll get it back to the Hokage!"  
"No!"  
"Naruto, it's me! Iruka! Don't you trust me?"  
"No, I trust Iruka. I just don't trust you, Mizuki!"

The fake Iruka cursed, and there was a small poof of smoke as he dispelled the transformation. As the smoke cleared, the face of the grey haired teacher became visible where Iruka's had been.

"How did you know?!" he hissed at the boy. Naruto grinned at him.  
"Because I'm Iruka!"

There was another flash of smoke and Iruka replaced Naruto.

"Hello Mizuki." the brunette snarled.  
"How did you find out?!" Mizuki screeched at him.

"Lord Hokage was watching you and Naruto with his crystal earlier and putting what Naruto told him with what he saw, he put two and two together and sent me after you! Naruto is already on his way back to the village with the scroll!"

Mizuki gave a roar of frustration and hurled several kunai towards his fellow teacher.

* * *

_"HE DID WHAT?!"_ Inochi yelled from inside the Hokage's office.  
There was some mumbling from the Hokage as he replied to her father's question.

_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE STOLE THE FORBIDDEN SCROLL?!"_ There was some more mumbling from the Hokage, presumably explaining whatever they were talking about.

_"WHERE THE HELL DID HE GET THAT IDEA?!"_ there was yet more mumbling. Ino found a new respect for the wrinkled old Hokage.  
He must have a lot of patience if he dealt with people as loud as her father on a daily basis.

_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANT GO?! ARE YOU INSANE? MIZUKI WILL KILL HIM IF WE DON'T GO AFTE-"_ Her father was interrupted by the old man, and his voice quietened for a while as they spoke again.

* * *

Unfortunately, for Iruka, Naruto was not heading towards the village. In fact, he was hiding behind a large tree close to where he and Mizuki were fighting. He could hear the clang of metal ass their kunai clashed together, and suddenly feared for his teacher.

Iruka had found him and told them to switch places, and told him to get the scroll back to village. He had set off in what he thought was the direction of the village, but running from Mizuki has left him disoriented. Panicking instead of relying on his training, he had run off in the first direction that came to mind and ended up only a few meters from the two Chunin.

"Why the hell do you care about that kid so much Iruka? I thought you hated him. He's the demon that killed your parents, isn't he?" Mizuki asked slyly. He had sensed Naruto charka earlier.

Naruto stiffened when he heard Mizuki's words. He killed Iruka's parents? He couldn't have! That was impossible! But… everyone hated him, bar a select few. Was that the reason why? He didn't remember doing something like that though! But if he didn't then why did everyone hate him so much?!

His need for answers overrode his sense of duty to keep to scroll safe and he moved from his hiding place into the clearing.

"Naruto what are you going? You have to take the scroll to the Hokage!" Iruka yelled as he blocked one of Mizuki's punches and sent a kick to the man's gut.

"Is that true Iruka-Sensei? Did… Did I… kill your parents?" Naruto asked.  
_'Please say no! Please tell me Mizuki's lying!'_

"Of course you didn-"  
"Who else could it have been? You destroyed this entire village monster!"  
"Naruto don't listen to him he's lying!"  
"I… I didn't do that! I don't remember doing that! I love Konoha! I couldn't have don tha-"

"You did! And do you want to know why you did?" Mizuki asked, sneering at the now shaking blonde.  
"Mizuki! That's forbidden! Sto-"  
_"BECAUSE YOU ARE THE NINE TAILED DEMON FOX!"_

* * *

_"HE TOLD HIM WHAT?! THAT BASTARD! I'M GONNA KILL HIM MYSELF! IBIKI WONT EVEN SEE HIM AFTER I'M DONE WITH HIM!"_ The Hokage spoke again, at some length this time, before there was what Ino could tell was a very stunned silence - even outside the office.

Moments later her father emerged from the office looking like he would snap someone's neck if they even looked at him in the wrong way, followed by a grim looking Hokage.

"…Then I can leave the matter in your hands Inochi?"  
"Of course Lord Hokage, Naruto's like a son to me…" Ino's ears pricked up at the mention of Naruto's name. "…You didn't have to ask, I'd have done so anyway once I found out about thi-"

"What about Naruto? What happened to him? Is he alright?" she all but demanded of her father and his wrinkled companion. They look surprised at the sudden outburst from the Yamanaka heiress. However, they quickly exchanged glances, after a nod from the Hokage a smirk appeared on the face of Inochi. It was very similar to the one his daughter used when things went according to her plans.

"Ino… I have something I need your help with." he said to his daughter.  
"I don't care! Get someone else to do it!" Ino bristled.

They had completely ignored her question. She was worried about the blonde idiot damn it! She had almost ran after him when he left the classroom, but Shikamaru had stopped her, claiming she'd just cause even more problems.

Her father had pretty much done the same thing when she had tried to go after him when he had moved from the swing set.  
Didn't anyone care at all?

Well, she knew Sasuke had had similar ideas since shed heard him arguing with his brother on the subject, but shouldn't her father be worried as well? He had raised him hadn't he? What was all that crap about Naruto being like his son if he didn't care enough to tell her what had happened to him?!

"Really? That's a shame… I guess I'll have to check up on Naruto myself then." Her ears prickled.  
"Can't you tell when people are joking you stupid old man?!"

Inochi smirked.  
The Hokage massaged his ears absently.  
Must all Yamanaka's be so_ loud_?

* * *

Naruto stared at Mizuki in disbelief. He was lying he had to be!

"You're lying! That's impossible! I'm not the Demon Fo-"  
"Yes you are!" Mizuki spat at him. "The Fourth Hokage sealed him inside you! Even he couldn't defeat it, so he sealed it way instead!"

Suddenly Naruto had flashbacks of his time seeing that massive cage, the one he had seen when he was unconscious.

"_What the hell do you mean healing? What Chakra? What the hell are you?!" he yelled as the cage faded from his vision, replaced by blinding whiteness. He almost mishear the voice grumble "you'll find out eventually"_

_- - - - - - - - - -_

"_Cease your constant jabbering. I have no knowledge of the other humans or the human vixen. "_

_- - - - - - - - - -_

_Naruto moved closer to the cage until he could put his hands on it again.  
He peered inside and in the shadows; he could make out a fluffy shape…  
__A fox…_

_- - - - - - - - - -_

_The fox stiffened.  
_"_What did you just call me?" It asked incredulously.  
_"_Mister Fluffy!"_

_- - - - - - - - - -_

His eyes widened. Mizuki was telling the truth! The beast he had so innocently dubbed 'Mister Fluffy' after first falling through Sasuke's roof was the nine-tailed fox!

No wonder it had sounded so irritated!  
No, wait... That was not the issued here!

He was jostled out of his thoughts by the sight of Mizuki racing towards him, kunai in hand.  
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you and get the respect I deserve!" Mizuki yelled as he neared the boy, a crazed look in his eyes.  
He had completely lost it.

Naruto pulled out his own kunai to defend himself, only to find the crazy Chunin was already upon him and ready to attack. Too stunned to move, Naruto scrunched his eyes shut and waited for the kunai's impact.

* * *

Fugaku massaged his temples as Itachi struggled not to laugh at what Inochi had just told them. Only Naruto or his antics could get such human reactions out of his family (Himself included). More importantly, why did the boy's actions always cause him such headaches?

"Itachi…" He growled. The suppressed chuckles emerging from his first-born were not helping.  
"I'm sorry father but…" he stopped to snicker again "…I think I know which technique Naruto used on the Hokage."

Fugaku raised an eyebrow as if to say _'and? Which one did he use?'_

"He used a transformation." Itachi clarified, still snickering.  
"I fail to see how a transformation would have such an effect." Fugaku asked, obviously confused.

"It's a matter of…" the snickering became full blown laughter. "…What he transformed into father…" Fugaku stared at his son, who was almost doubled over in laughter.

'_What on earth has Minato's boy __done__ to my family?'__

* * *

_It never came.

Naruto opened one eye a crack to see if a passing thunderbolt had miraculously electrocuted the lunatic.  
Alas, this was not the case, but what he saw made both his eyes bulge.  
Iruka had taken the Kunai for him, right in his gut.

"Naruto… Is not the… demon!" he spat at Mizuki, said spit tainted red with blood. Mizuki, if possible, was driven further into madness by the statement and hurled Kunai after Kunai at the teacher.

"Move! Move! Move! MOVE!!" Mizuki screamed at him, hurling several shuriken towards him. Iruka made move to listen to the man, choosing to parry as many of the metal stars as he could with a kunai. Several got past his defence however, and Naruto was reminded of the time they had been attacked at the Uchiha Clan training grounds.

He had been the first to fall, defeated by one measly kunai (so what if it had hit the bone and had been covered in poison?). That had always bothered him. He was supposed to protect his friends, not have them protect him or worry about him.

He hated making them worry about him.  
Now Iruka was doing the same thing Sasuke had!  
He was being protected again!

He had few memories of his mother, but one of them was that she was a very headstrong woman, who believed in being able to protect yourself. She had not been the type to willingly rely on others. She was not arrogant or anything, she just didn't like imposing on people.

Wherever she was, he knew she would be disappointed that he was allowing this to happen for a second time. Making his decision, he formed the cross-shaped hand seal with fire in his eyes as a giant shuriken whizzed towards Iruka.

* * *

Ino and Sasuke stood outside Fugaku's office as their fathers conversed. Sasuke didn't know what they were talking about, but from what Ino had told him about her father's meeting with the Hokage, it involved his blonde-haired idiot of a best friend.

The things they knew were that Naruto had broken into the forbidden scroll room, and somehow rendered the Hokage unconscious before taking of with a scroll sealed away by the first Hokage. They also had their suspicions he had been forced or tricked into doing this, at least if Inochi's reaction was anything to go by.

The boy's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of laughter. Itachi's laughter.  
Sasuke shivered at the sound.

Ino seemed oblivious to Sasuke's suffering. She was focusing her thoughts on what her father had told her…

- - - - - - - - - -

"_As you guessed, Naruto is in a spot of trouble at the moment." Her father informed her, putting on his serious voice.  
_"_Well, I didn't so much guess. It was more like you broadcasted it to the entire village" Ino couldn't resist keeping her thoughts to herself. The Hokage chortled, earning him a withering look from Inochi._

"_Did you want to help out or not?" he asked his daughter.  
_"_I'm sorry, you were saying?" Ino apologised hurriedly, almost choking on her own sentence. Her father smirked._

"_As I said, Naruto's in a spot of trouble. Mizuki told him something he wasn't supposed to learn about for some time yet, and it was not a you've-just-won-a-years-supply-of-ramen type of something. I want you to go cheer him up a bit. God knows he'll need it after the day he's had..." _

_Ino gave her father a puzzled look.  
_"_How am I supposed to cheer him up If I don't know why he's depressed in the first place?" her father gave her a softer smile then, not the smirk that was so similar to her own._

"_I'm sure you'll think of something Ino. Can you tell him the Hokage wants to talk to him afterwards as well?" he asked in a more friendly than serious tone. __Ino dumbly nodded and her father rubbed the top of her head playfully. She was so confused she did not even try to bat his hand away and scream at him for messing up her hair (getting hair the length hers was into a ponytail every morning was no joke)._

"_I knew you could help Ino!" her father said grinning at her._

_- - - - - - - - - -_

What on earth did he mean? What had Mizuki said to Naruto that he shouldn't have? Was it really that bad? More to the point, what on earth was she supposed to do? Some how, punching him in the shoulder and saying 'don't cry you big girl' like she normally would did not seem appropriate this time.

Her father's tone of voice indicated that whatever had happened was something very serious, and she did not do serious! Moreover, what did he mean _'I'm sure you'll think of something'_?! How could he expect her to pull Naruto out of depression without giving her any information as to why he was depressed in the first place?!

Pulling Naruto out of depression was worse than pulling her hair into a ponytail and that was, in Shikamaru's words, a fucking pain in the ass! Naruto, surprisingly, had very little self-confidence. He had his goals yes, but he constantly doubted himself. Every time they had a review of the clone technique in the academy, Ino had usually spent the night assuring him that he was not weak or stupid or that he did not posses some other fault.

"What the hell does he expect me to do?! Wave a magic wand or something? Stupid old man!" she suddenly screamed to herself, jerking Sasuke out of his shivers. He stared at her as if she had two head for a while before she realised she had been thinking out loud.

"Ino? Are you feeling alright?"  
"I'm fine, why?" she snapped back irritably. Sasuke flinched slightly, but he was still a bit worried about her strange outburst so he pressed the subject.

"Because… Well… You were screaming... To yourself…I think…"  
"Huh? When did I do that-" realization dawned. "Oh crap! Sorry Sasuke! I completely forget you were here!"  
"Ino, this is my house." she grinned sheepishly at him, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Naruto is rubbing off on you. He does that." he gestured to the hand behind her head with a nod. Ino's face flushed and she spluttered at the suggestion. Sasuke chuckled.

* * *

Iruka's jaw dropped when he saw the clones.  
There were so many!

One had jumped in front of him moment before the giant throwing star had hit him, grabbed it, and hurled it back toward Mizuki. Something about that puzzled him, but it was pushed to the back of his mind. Naruto walked out from behind Iruka, a fierce look on his face. Mizuki faltered a bit under Naruto's glare, but held himself steady.

"W-what are you staring at monster?" he smirked at the boy, but his nervousness was evident in his voice. "Are you mad at me for attacking your precious teacher?" he sneered. Naruto's glare intensified and Mizuki tried to swallow his nerves.

"Touch Iruka-sensei again, and maybe I will turn into a demon!" Naruto hissed at the man. He could not see it himself, but for an instant, his pupils became slitted and flashed red instead of their cheerful blue.

Mizuki whimpered as several similarly red-eyed clones surrounded hem, cracking their knuckles ominously.

* * *

Ino grumbled to herself as she walked through the village to Naruto's apartment. She had tried badgering her father for a bit more information on why she needed to comfort her fellow blonde, only to receive that bloody smirk!

Well, at least she now knew why it infuriated other people so much.

Why had she agreed to this again?

Oh, yes. She had been worried about Naruto, still was. What on earth had possessed him to steal one of the forbidden scrolls anyway? All right, so he might have been tricked (as she suspected anyway) into it, but he was not _that_ stupid!

More to the point, what the hell was she supposed to say to him? How could she be expected to cheer him up with so little information? Getting information out of Naruto could be like squeezing blood out of a stone when he was in the right frame of mind. And he was certain to be in the correct frame of mind, if what her father had told her was in any way believable.

This was going to be a nightmare!

Her thoughts were interrupted when she caught sight of Naruto standing outside his apartment with Iruka-sensei. She could not see his face, but the excited gestures and loud voice (describing a fight of some sort) indicated he was not as despondent as her father had though. She would have believed this too, if it were not for the worried frown on her old teachers face.

Naruto gave the man a hug before entering his apartment, closing the door behind him firmly. That raised even more alarm bells in Ino's head. When Naruto was angry he had no qualms with slamming doors, he had broken several in the past.

What the bloody hell was going on?! What on earth could have shaken Naruto this badly?! She was going to kill Mizuki the next time she saw him. How dare he mess with her Naru- her friend's head like this!

Oohhh… he was so going down! He was going to learn first hand why the tiny clan of mind readers gained so much respect first hand! She would even show him a sneak preview of her own, brand-new technique!

That would teach him to think again before messing with her friends!

After she dragged Naruto out of his spiralling black hole of depression though. That was her first priority.

_'I'll just have to go along with whatever he tells me and go from there!'_ she thought to herself as she marched up the stairs of the building.

* * *

Ino was so absorbed in her thoughts of 'death-to-Mizuki' and 'the-anti-gloomy-Naruto-strategy' that she did not notice Iruka until she had already crashed into him.

She almost lost her footing, but Iruka grabbed her arm before she fell down the back down the mountain of stairs.

"I'm so sorry Iruka-sensei!"  
"It's alright Ino, you obviously have a lot on her mind to be that spaced out." his smile fell slightly when he spoke again.  
"Are you here to see Naruto?" Ino nodded in reply.

"The Hokage was talking to my dad, and he said something happened with Mizuki. Dad sent me to try and cheer him up." Iruka's nodded in understanding. Whether he lived with the Yamanaka's or not, Inochi was still Naruto's guardian by law.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be able to do though! It takes forever to get him out of a flunk and I don't even know why he is in a flunk anyway! How am I supposed to help if I don't know what for?" she grumbled.

Iruka seemed to ponder this for a moment before a wide grin appeared on his face. Ino made a mental note not to smirk so much in the future. They really were annoying!

"Why don't you give him a kiss? That'll probably cheer him up!" Iruka said seriously.

After a few moments, the words sunk in and Ino's cheeks turned a bright cherry colour.  
"I-I c-cant do that!" she spluttered, shocked that her old teacher could have even suggested such a thing.

"Why not? It will cheer him up, all boys like getting kisses from pretty girls! And you like him don't you? You can use this to your advantage!" he grinned. All right, he had a good point with that comment. And normally, she would have jumped at the chance, but this was not the time for this!

Ino's face turned several shades darker from embarrassment, if that was possible.  
"y-you don't just kiss people willy-nilly like that Iruka-sensei!" Why was she stuttering? Ino Yamanaka did not stutter!  
Dear god, she was turning into Hinata!

"B-Besides! Were just friends! And Naruto likes Sakura so it… it wouldn't be right…" oh wonderful. Why had she said that? She was just making things worse! Not to mention aggravating her own heartache.

"I know, it is rather obvious, but I wouldn't have thought you would have given up that easily, what with the way you two competed in the academy…" Ino wondered if it would be a crime to strangle her old teacher, and if it was, where could she hide his body?

"Oh well, I have to go! Papers to mark and all that. Good luck with Naruto, Ino!" and with that last comment, he disappeared down the stairs, leaving a stunned Ino standing in the middle of the stairwell.

She stood there, dazed, for several minuets before jolting back to reality.  
"I don't have the time to be standing around!" she cried to herself, startling and old man who had been standing behind her, waiting for her to move.

With her mind back on the task at hand, she dashed up the remaining stairs to the top floor of the apartment complex. She raced down the hall to the last door and hammered on it like a woodpecker a would a tree.

"Naruto! Open up! Oi! Blondie-Boy! It's Ino! Hurry up and open this do-"

The door was suddenly yanked open and the blonde girl fell forward, crashing to the floor. After gathering her wits about her, she realised that the floor of Naruto's appartment was more squishy than usual.

_'…the hell? Since when are Naruto's floorboards squishy?'_ she thought to herself.

* * *

"Ino, are you going to lie on top of me forever or are you going to get up anytime soon?"

Ino looked down and saw a head of blonde hair beneath her; the action was accompanied by the now familiar feeling of a blush creeping across her face. There was silence for a few moments as Ino's mind processed the situation she now found herself in.

"Ino? Oi, Ino! Are you alright?" Naruto asked from beneath her. She had made no move to get up and seemed to be in a daze of some sorts, making the boy worry a bit.  
Once again, she failed to answer, so Naruto decided to resort to drastic measures.

"OI! PIGGY!" He yelled, it was quiet by his standards but it did the job. Ino shrieked and jumped back off him, pushing him away at the same time. There was a crash as she backed Ino a wall and Naruto was thrown into his table.

Ino clutched her head where it had made contact with the wall. How could she have spaced out like that?! She was supposed to bee cheering Naruto up, not causing more problems! Ino picked herself up off the floor and walked over to the pile of plastic and human limbs, where Naruto has crashed into the formica table.

"Great, now I have to buy a new table…" he grumbled to himself as Ino pulled him out of the wreckage to a standing position. After she fussed over him for several minuets, checking for injuries, he decided to speak.

"Alright, what's wrong with you Ino? Since when do you knock at my door? And why do you keep spacing out?"

Erk.  
That was a tough one to answer. What was she supposed to say? That she _like_ liked him?  
Oh yes, that would go down brilliantly.

What could she say that would make him stop asking questions? She couldn't tell him she had been worried about him for failing, or that her father had sent her…  
She needed something he avoided like the plague…

"Err…" she mad a face.  
"Ino…" she felt like laughing at the stern tone I his voice, but her acting would not allow for that.

"I don't think you want to know Naruto…"  
"Ino jus spit it out! You worried me!"

He had been worried about her?  
Score!

Ack!  
Acting, acting!  
Victory dance later!

"…It's …Err …Well …Girl-stuff, I kind of starte-"  
"I don't wanna know! Don't tell me any of that weird shit! It's bad enough having your dad, Iruka, and Fugaku telling me about all that stuff!"

Diversion tactic; success!  
Naruto avoided anything remotely like sex-ed like a snail avoided sunlight. He avoided anything to do with the subject. She hadn't started her periods yet, truth be told, but Naruto didn't have to know that.

He just had to stop asking awkward questions and let her do what she came to; get him out of his weird funk!

"You're such a prude." she teased.  
"No, I just don't want to know about the inner-bodily functions of other people unless they're dying or something! What's wrong with that?"  
"I say you're a prude."  
"I'm not a prude damn it!" he waved his arms for added emphasis.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"  
Aw crap. More questions.

"I want you to help carry my bags. My dad gave me some money to get some proper ninja clothes now that we've graduated and I want to use it"

She had spoken the sentence before thinking, and a look of horror crossed her features when she realised what she had said. Talk about adding salt to the wound! Stupid, brainless, dim-witted, idiot girl!

"Oh god, I'm sorry! I didn't thin-" Ino's ramblings were cut short when the boy dangled a metal plate engraved with the leaf symbol on a length of blue fabric in front of her nose.

"Wh- How did you… I mean… Your clones are… But…" she gawped at the forehead protector as if it was a fish dancing in a tutu. Naruto grinned at her.

"Long story short; I learned a slightly different clone technique, saved Iruka-sensei's ass, and somehow passed. I'm not sure how, since I already failed it but I'm not complaining!" he said, rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

Ino all but flung herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, lifting her feet of the ground as she did so. The action required him to return the gesture by worming his arms around her waist, if to keep himself from toppling to the ground again (he was slightly shorter than she was).

"This is brilliant! This means you can graduate with us!" she hollered happily, as he twirled her around a bit, equally happy as she was. He set her down on the ground as she continued to babble excitedly.

"It'll be awesome if they put us on a team with Sasuke or Shikamaru!" she gushed. Naruto raised an eyebrow, however. Considering their families friendship, it was more likely that Ino would be placed with Shikamaru and Choji.

"Are you sure were going to be on the same team?" he asked dubiously.  
"We'd bloody better be! I'll kill Iruka-sensei if we aren't!" she informed him, slamming her fist into an open palm for emphasis. Naruto laughed at her stubbornness, but he could not help but agree.

Ino sighed with relief inwardly when Naruto laughed at her gesturing. He had not been nearly cheerful enough, considering he had finally graduated after three separate attempts.

Was this because of whatever Mizuki had said to him? She did not have to know what he had said to know she was going to castrate him the moment she saw him next.  
This was supposed to a special day for Naruto, and Mizuki had put a dampener on it with his stupid goose-quacking. Had it not been for him, Naruto would have been bouncing off the walls. As it was, he was as cool as a cucumber.  
Naruto hated cucumbers.

She obviously had more work to do.  
She did not have to worry about his failing the graduation exam, but Mizuki's blabbering was still having a negative effect on Naruto.  
She would have to work harder to get him back to normal.

But she'd run out of ideas, unless she resorted to Iruka's idea.

'_I can't believe I even considered that! Nevertheless, he has a point, it shock him enough to- No! No! No! No! No! NO! I can't be seriously thinking about this…'_

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter if we get put on the same team or not…" she said nonchalantly. _'As long as he doesn't get placed on the same team as Sakura at any rate…'_

Naruto's face fell at her words and tone of voice slightly, but it quickly brightened when she continued.

"You finally passed! Shikamaru, Sasuke and I all passed too. That's all that really matters, right?" she beamed at him. He was about to reply, but froze when she bent her head and lightly pecked one of his scarred cheeks with her lips.

"I'm really happy for you Naruto." she quickly turned away from him, so he wouldn't see the crimson colour spreading across her cheeks. She grabbed his wrist and began to pull him out of his apartment.

'_That was so embarrassing! I cannot believe I did that! I'm never listing to Iruka-Sensei again!' _she wailed inwardly as Naruto yelled about locking the door from behind her.

"Hurry up! I'm not the only one who needs some proper ninja clothes! You can't wear those orange… err…_garments…_ forever!" she yelled back, clearly ignoring him.

Had she looked back (which she wouldn't even think about until her blush died down) she would have seen Naruto's face was a bright, cherry red.

* * *

_**Just downloaded the full opening for Ikimonogakari.  
I'm beging to think they're going to be like Aqua Timez are for Bleach. they always have a good idea of fitting the plot into the song somehow, if these two songs are anything to go by. Though Sunao no Niji will forever make me cry. goe see the english lyrics while listening to the whole thing thiking of Naruto and Sasuke and I swear to god you will cry!I'im tearing up just thinking about...**_

Booo Hoooo.....  
See?  
Crying. Over a song and a manga.  
My mother thinks im crazy.

_**I'm begining to hate Kishi for all these clifhangers. I'm glad Danzou isnt an Uchiha though. I was having heart attacks there (as anyone who reads these things will know) but... WHY KISHI?! WHY DID YOU GIVE HIM THE MIND-CONTROLING-SHARINGANN-THING?! IT HAS TO BE A MANGEKYOU FOR THAT! THIS ISNT GOOOD!  
Maandrin is messing things up as well, since im geussing he did somethig thats going to stab sasuchin in the back since sasuke isnt actually in the room (am i readin that right, cos i thought he was outside narutos room for a moment so i re-read it and then i though wait is he listening at the door? either way he ist with the rest of hawk... urgh. so confused. gotta check this on naruto wiki).**_

_**sai knocked sense into the people in konaha, or where it should be at least, so points for him. with any luck sakura will show up to help knock sense into sasuke then naruto will get over her and run of with sasuke. Yaaaay. (yes, im aware im delusional)**_

in case anyone hasnt noticed, im a SasuNaru/ NaruSasu fangirl before hetro pairings, and i hate SasuSaku. dont mind SasuIno, or others (though i dont actually get sasuHina, im not opposed.) but SasuNaru/NaruSasu will always be top of my list.  


_**Reveiws?  
I'll give out virtual..... Peanuts? No... POCKIN!!!!!!!!  
Me likey Pockin.**_

_**I do.  
(P.S. Kiddies, don't go smoking crack now. Thats bad. No getting laid till youre legal either.)**_


	5. The Awkward Graduation

_**Is madara dead?  
Is sasuke still going through his 'avenger' phase?  
yes?**_

_**Then dont send lawyers after me. i dont own naruto, kishi does. i just mutilating th plotline for my own twisted purposes because im weird like that. (on another note, D. Gray-Man is finally back! i can feel the dgm muses finnaly coming back! yaaaaaaay!)  
**_

* * *

Ino dragged Naruto into almost every shop in the village before she was satisfied with her purchases, for her own use as well as his own clothing choices. Despite her best efforts, she had not been able to rid him of the colour orange completely.

He refused to part with his orange jacket, and the black shorts she had forced him into buying had orange trimming on the pockets. He had also somehow procured orange bandage wrappings to place under his kunai holster (Ino secretly stole these when he was not looking and replaced them with normal ones. The orange ones would be burned).

He also kept the black t-shirt he usually wore, though it was more visible since Ino practically bullied him into leaving his jacket unzipped. He did not get to see what she had bought, since she insisted on keeping it a surprise. Either way, Naruto knew there would be purple in there somewhere.

He walked her home, where Inochi suffocated him amidst yells of _'why do you insist on giving me heart attacks with your antics you little hellion?!' _before heading back to his apartment on his own. As he walked past Ichiraku's he made a mental note to thank Ino the next day. He knew she had been worried and had come by to cheer him up, and she had done just that. Not once had his thoughts been on the fox since she came crashing through the door.

He cheeks gained a faint cherry colour as the memory surfaced. Shed been really close to his face close enough to…

"_You finally passed! Shikamaru, Sasuke and I all passed too. That's all that really matters, right?" she beamed at him. He was about to reply, but froze when she bent her head and lightly pecked one of his scarred cheeks with her lips._

"_I'm really happy for you Naruto." _

The faint cherry colour on his cheeks grew to a face-wide tomato situation. _'Why am I thinking about that? She was just being nice!'_ he screamed inwardly.

As he had walked back from the Yamanaka's, he had noticed the glares of the villagers. Somehow, they were even worse than before. It was as if they knew he knew. A couple of people even shoved him a couple of could not help but wonder if this for the reason for his mother's disappearance.  
Had she found it too much?

He almost instantly rejected the abhorrent notion. He had seen his mother beat up someone for glaring at him once. The poor man had to get a cast on his nose.

No. Naruto decided his mother had not left because of the Kyuubi; she probably called it mister fluffy as well. His mother's disappearance was something else entirely.  
He took comfort from these thoughts. though he had by no means abandoned his suspicions, it was enough for now. Naruto made his way home oblivious to the glares from the villagers, wondering how Ino would look in her new outfit instead.

* * *

Sasuke and Shikamaru were shocked when Naruto walked into the classroom the next morning. Not only was he wearing surprisingly little orange, but he was also wearing a Konoha forehead protector around his head. He saw their shocked faces and grinned before they attacked.

Sasuke's fan girls almost fainted when Sasuke actually hugged him, a faint smirky-smile on his face (Naruto asked him if he was ill). Shikamaru berated Naruto for causing such a commotion but also gave him a congratulatory hug. They dragged him to their bench at the back of the room and demanded an explanation. Naruto gave them an edited version of the Mizuki incident, leaving out the part about the nine-tailed fox.

They gawped at him when he told them about learning how to make the shadow clones.

"Naruto do you know why shadow clones are a forbidden technique nowadays?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto shook his head.  
"It's because if you don't have enough chakra, you'd kill yourself making one clone. The technique splits your chakra evenly between yourself and the clone. That is why they are solid. If you put enough chakra into it, it could last for days but you'd probably die from chakra exhaustion"

Naruto gawped at him.  
"B-But I was barley out of breath! I could have made the same amount twice over!"  
"Whatever, you have a freakishly large amount of chakra, just get on with it." Sasuke snapped, eager to hear what else had happened.

Naruto was in the middle of explaining the switch with Iruka when Ino entered the room. As he had suspected, her clothes were purple. A pair of arm-warmers accompanied a short sleeveless top with a high collar and a skirt with high slits up either side. Bandages covered her upper legs, and most of her upper body underneath the skirt and top. Her headband hung just below her bandage wrapped waist.

"Wow Ino, you really went to town yesterday!" Naruto grinned. Ino glared at him for a short moment as she made her way to her seat. "it looks good though!"

"T-Thanks!" she replied sitting down between him and Shikamaru, earning a suspicious look from the lazy boy.  
Unless he was sorely mistake, Ino was blushing.

"You don't look bad yourself, though I still think it'd be better without the orange!"  
"No way! I'm not getting rid of the orange! Orange is awesome!"

Naruto continued to protest as she complimented Sasuke on his clothing choice. He had changed his usual black shirt for a blue one and arm warmers lie Ino's. The edging was blue not purple though.

"How may fan girls fainted when they saw him?" Ino asked Shikamaru after receiving a grunt of thanks from Sasuke. She did not bother to comment on the pony-tailed boy's choice of wardrobe. He had been too lazy to change anything other than his shirt, which was now made of mesh.

"Don't know… five I think… I was asleep…" Ino was not surprised by his answer. "More to the point, what's wrong with Naruto?"

Ino frowned, but she mentally congratulated Shikamaru for noticing Naruto's slight lack of vitality. It was just like him to notice so quickly. Apparently Sasuke had noticed by now as well since he was offering to pay for the ramen today (this was very rare since it meant he'd have to foot Naruto's bill as well).

"I'm not entirely sure. I know it has something to do with what happened with Mizuki, and he told Naruto something he shouldn't have… but as to what that is…" she recounted her tale from when she and her father had been summoned by the Hokage; to how Naruto had acted at his house, though she left out the part about Iruka suggesting she kiss him (and the action itself).

* * *

Shikamaru grumbled for a while before going back to sleep. Ino conversed with Sasuke and Naruto before Sakura showed up, at which point she jumped up from he seat to go talk to her friend.

Sasuke had watched the two blondes surreptitiously since they had entered, and found something different from usual.

"Oi, idiot? What is wrong with you and Blondie II? You're acting weird." he asked, keeping a watchful eye on Naruto. He was not disappointed when he saw the blonde tense slightly.

"What? Nothings wrong with me and Ino."  
"Liar. Something happened."  
"Didn't."  
"Did."  
"Didn't."  
"Did!"  
"Didn't!"  
"DID!"  
"DIDN'T"

Sasuke gave up. Naruto probably hadn't realised something was different between him and Ino yet. He was sensitive to the emotions of others, but he was clueless when it came to his own.

"So you noticed it too…" Shikamaru mumbled from the desk his head was resting on.  
"Noticed what?" Sasuke asked, taken by surprise by the question.

"Naruto and Ino." Shikamaru clarified, stretching his arms and sitting up, albeit slightly slumped.  
"Oh… yeah, I noticed. Do you know what happened?" Sasuke asked. Shikamaru had always been the observant one.

"Not sure but… Ino has a crush on him, probably. She blushed when he said she looked good in the new stuff. Stuttered too." Shikamaru replied lazily, eyes closed and head leant against the back wall. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Ino stuttered? Ino? Are you sure? You weren't dreaming?"  
"Tch. No, unfortunately not."  
"Unfortunately?"  
"You do realise this going to just cause more problems, on top of the ones Naruto already causes?"  
"…Oh bugger."

They were interrupted by two loud screams from the opposite side or the room. Looking to source of the noise, they saw Sakura and Ino trying to glare each other into hell.

"You'd better be prepared for a fight Sakura, BECAUSE I'm NOT GOING TO LOSE TO YOU!"  
"Bring it on Ino; I'M NOT GOING TO LOOSE EITHER!"

"I told you so…" Shikamaru stated, head landing back on the desk hands covering his ears to block out the noise.  
"I hate it when you do that."

* * *

Ino jumped up from the desk and ran over to meet her pink-haired friend. Or rival. Whatever.

"Hey Sakura!"  
"Hey Ino" the girl smiled at her. "When did you get here?"

"I got in about twenty minuets ago. Shika and Sasuke were already talking to Naruto when I got here though. I think Kiba was here at the same time as them as well." Ino gestured to the boy talking to his little dog two rows in front of her usual spot.

"Naruto? But he failed! What's he doing here?" Sakura asked, obviously shocked.

'_Urgh… That's going to be hard to explain…'_  
"One of the teachers rigged his exam. They messed up his chakra before the exam. Iruka-Sensei noticed after the tests had finished, so he fixed it and gave him another shot."

It was not a total lie.  
Mizuki had tricked Naruto, and Iruka had helped him out, just not the way Ino told Sakura.  
Unfortunately, for Ino, instead of buying the lie Sakura frowned.

"But he failed the same first year exam on the clone technique at least twice before, didn't he? He's an idiot; even if his chakra was messed with, he still couldn't create a clone. I've seen him try, and they stink. He probably begged the Hokage to let him pass or something. Everyone knows they're close…"

Ino glared at Sakura. She knew Sakura didn't know what had happened, and was only looking at things from what she knew, but she couldn't let her go around talking about Naruto so badly.

"Take that back!" she hissed at the was surprised by the malevolent tone of Ino's voice.  
"But it makes sense Ino! You know how desperate Naruto was to pass this year, everyone did! I can't blame him for it really, but sti-"

"Shut Up! You know nothing about Naruto! You don't know how hard he practices or what his life is like or anything about him! Don't judge people based on what you think you know about them! Naruto would never cheat!" Ino wasn't quite yelling, but she was very close to doing so. Sakura tried to speak again, but Ino hadn't finished:

"I can't believe you'd think that, how shallow are you? Do you really think the Hokage would do something like that because he knows Naruto? Are you stupid or something?! He's the freaking Hokage!" once again Sakura tried to back up her own argument, and once again Ino refused to let her get a word in edgeways.

"I don't understand why Naruto likes you so much, I really don't! You know nothing about him, but you don't hesitate to beat him up or insult him every time he tries to talk to you, and even accuse him of cheating! You'd better be prepared for a fight Sakura, because I'M NOT GOING TO LOOSE TO YOU!"

Sakura stared at her, taken aback by her friend's outburst.

'_Why is she so mad?'_ Sakura brushed the thought aside, responding to the blonde girl's loud declaration instead.  
"Bring it on Ino; I'M NOT GOING TO LOOSE EITHER!"

The two were about to exchange blows when they were interrupted by Iruka's timely arrival.

"That's enough of that! You are Genin, not academy students! If you want to fight, you follow the proper conduct instead brawling like idiots! Get to your seats!" the two girls gave each other one last glare before returning to their seats.

* * *

Once the other students had turned their attention to the Chunin, Iruka began his speech.

"All of you sitting here have passed the exam and are now Genin of Konoha. The leaf symbol on your forehead protects carries the honour of the whole village, make sure that you avoid bringing shame to that symbol. If you do, you bring shame to the village.

"The leaf is also a symbol of friendship. The leaf village is strong because of our strong connections with our fellow ninja. Never forget that. If you fall into trouble, anyone who wears the leaf will come to your aide. I expect you to do the same, for that is what makes Konoha strong.

"You are Genin now, soldiers of Konoha loyal to our Hokage. You will be expected to follow any orders given like a well-oiled machine, but never forget that you are people too. Even ninja have emotions, and they can be of great value when your life is hanging in the balance. It's a just a question of which emotion you choose. Remember that."

There was science as Iruka finished his short lecture and the class pondered his words.  
Naruto in particular gave a lot of thought to the words of his teacher.

"Now for the team assignments. You will be split into teams of three, and will be assigned a Jonin squad leader and Sensei. It would be best to listen to their words for they hold years more experience than you do. I'll start by naming the Jonin, and then which of you have been assigned to their squad.

Some students nodded in understanding, whilst others simply waited for the team listings to be called out.

"Anko Mitarashi will be leading Team Eight(?), consisting of Shino Aburame…"  
The boy with sunglasses and a high-collared coat nodded in confirmation.

"…Hinata Hyuuga…" A timid looking girl with bluish-black hair and pale lavender (almost white) eyes also nodded, though with a bit less vigour than her new teammate.

"… and Kiba Inuzuka."  
The boy with the small dog grinned wolfishly.

Team Ten(?) will be lead by Asuma Sarutobi, and will consist of Choji Akimichi…" A Plump boy with swirls tattooed onto his cheeks looked up at the mention of his name.

"…Shikamaru Nara…"  
Shikamaru looked up once hearing his name, then promptly went back to sleep.

"…and Ino Yamanaka." Ino was glad she was on the same team as one of her friends but she couldn't help but feel disappointed she wasn't on the same team as Naruto. She would just have to hope Naruto was not placed with Sakura. She didn't know if she would be able to deal with that well.

"Kakashi Hatake will be in command of Team Seven, consisting of Sakura Haruno…"  
A head of pink hair pricked up upon hearing her name.

"…Sasuke Uchiha…" Sasuke prayed he would be placed with Naruto. He did not want to be stuck with some ramndomer and one of his fan girls. Sakura meanwhile, squealed with joy - dragging a shudder out of the usually unflappable boy.

"…and Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto felt like jumping for joy at being on the same team as Sasuke, but as for Sakura, he wasn't so sure. He liked her, but he was not sure he wanted to be on a team with her… He would much prefer to have Ino on their team.

Ino stiffened as Iruka finished reading out the name of Team Seven's members. She couldn't believe it. Why was Sakura on Naruto's team?! Ino set a glare in Sakura's direction in a desperate attempt to quell the feelings of anger and frustration.

Sakura could feel Ino's glare from behind her even if she couldn't see it. She had no idea why Ino was so mad at her, and it was beginning to make her worry. Had she done something to offend her without realising? She made a mental note to seek her friend out during lunch and find out.

* * *

Iruka finished reading out the other teams and told them that they would have an hour for lunch before their new Jonin commanders would collect them. The student slowly filed out of the room, some already with their new team-mates. Others took the opportunity to spend some quality time with their friends, as Ino intended to do with the three boys walking out of the classroom.

A hand on her arm stopped her before she could catch up with them, she wasn't sure when she had fallen behind - since they all sat in the same row - but she had. She looked behind her to see Sakura's worried face. She felt a bit guilty then, but her mood did not change.

"What?" she asked sharply.

Sakura seemed to freeze up slightly at the sharp tone in her voice.  
"Why are you so mad at me Ino?" Sakura asked tentatively. "Did I say something to offend you?"

Ino could not believe what she was hearing. This girl had insulted one of her friends (as far as Sakura was aware, Naruto was just a friend to her) right in front of her and she wanted to know if she had offended her? Was she stupid?!

"Don't pretend you don't know what you said Sakura! And keep in mind that I'm not going to give up just because you got lucky with the team placements!" she hissed at her friend. She did not like arguing with Sakura, but she could not let her get away with so blatantly insulting Naruto either.

Sakura seemed confused by Ino's words.  
'_Team placements? What do Naruto and Sasuke have to do with… oh!'_ Sakura's mind came to an incorrect realisation.

"So this about Sasuke? Just because you two have been friends for ages doesn't give you the upper hand! I'm on his team now, you can't interfere with us!"

Sakura's words seemed to irritate Ino more than ever and the blonde girl seemed to explode.

"WHO THE BLOODY HELL SAID ANYTHING ABOUT SASUKE?! NO ONE! STOP JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS YOU STUPID BILLBOARD FOREHEAD GIRL!" She screamed, attracting the attention of their remaining classmates.  
Sakura was about to reply when she was interrupted by the voice of another loud blonde.

"Ino! Hurry up! Sasuke's paying for the ramen today and we only have an hour before we need to be back here!" any attention Ino had been giving Sakura disappeared when she saw Naruto's head pop round the door.

Ino shot another glare to Sakura before walking away and joining Naruto, linking arms in a friendly manner.

"Since when does Sasuke pay?" Ino asked him incredulously. She had not heard when Sasuke had made the offer earlier.  
"Don't know, but I'm not going to turn down free ramen!" he grinned at her.  
"Good point, lets go!" Ino dragged him off ignoring his protests that she had been the one lagging behind.

* * *

Sakura stared as Ino walked out of the room clinging to Naruto like a limpet. She hadn't realised the two were so close. Well, now she knew why Ino had looked like she had wanted to feed her to Ibiki.

Watching her friend with the blonde, she was aware that she seemed completely at ease. She knew that Naruto had lived with Ino before he moved out. She had noticed him come to pick Ino up from her house sometimes when they were nine and she and Ino began to get closer to each other. However, in spite of those odd glimpses of him, she could never say she had really spoken to him.

Ino didn't really talk about her other friends much unless something out of the ordinary happened (like the time Naruto and Shikamaru egg bombed a dog belonging to Shikamaru's grandmother or when they had been attacked at the Uchiha training grounds). All of a sudden, she felt incredibly guilty for simply springing her accusations on Naruto like that. Ino had every right to snap at her for what she had said.

Still, close or not, it was not like Ino to loose control of her temper that badly. Ino might have a short temper, but it was not _that _bad. Ino's choice of words bothered her too.

- - - - - - - - - -  
"_WHO THE HELL SAID ANYTHING ABOUT SASUKE?! NO ONE! STOP JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS YOU STUPID BILLBOARD FOREHEAD GIRL!"  
- - - - - - - - - -_  
"…_I'm not going to give up just because you got lucky with the team placements!"  
- - - - - - - - - -_  
"_You'd better be prepared for a fight Sakura because I'M NOT GOING TO LOOSE TO YOU!"  
- - - - - - - - - -_  
"_I don't understand why Naruto likes you so much, I really don't!"_

She could not get rid of the nagging feeling that she was missing something, some key detail.

She turned her gaze back to the two blondes who had moved further down the hall to catch up to Sasuke and Shikamaru. In her haste, Ino stumbled, however she managed to catch her footing. The action cased the boy she was still dragging behind her to knock into her back.

"Sorry Ino!" he cried, dramatically.  
"I-it's fine, it was my fault for being clumsy!" Ino replied before running on ahead of her fellow blonde (who yelled after her indignantly), but not before Sakura caught sight of the blush staining her face.

Sakura did not miss the exchange and it astonished her, frankly. Not once in over four years, since she had become more of a friend to Ino than a rival, had she ever seen Ino blush. In addition, stuttering was completely unheard of in the young Yamanaka.

'_S-She has a crush on him!' _her inner self yelled in shock behind a puzzled façade. Sakura considered the possibility, pondering what she had observed and heard. It made perfect sense!

She felt hurt that Ino had not told her about it, she knew of her own crush on Sasuke after all. Then again, she was not exactly quiet about it.

Normally Ino did not know the meaning of the word embarrassment, so that was not the reason she had not told her. Observing her friendly banter with Naruto, Sakura surmised that her friend probably didn't want to spoil the relationship they already had. Despite that, it seemed Ino couldn't help but find some situations or accidents slightly awkward.

After analysing Ino's actions, she began to wonder what her friend saw in the blonde.

He was loud, had a knack for getting himself into trouble, and wasn't that impressive as a ninja. He was ok, except when it came to clones or anything requiring especially precise chakra control. He was not that good looking, though he was not ugly either. He was average, in general. If not slightly below.

Naruto was nothing special.  
Sure, Ino had grown up with him but that alone wasn't enough.

Sakura decided to find out a little more information about her new team-mate. She wanted to make sure he deserved Ino's attention. Sakura knew she had many faults, but one of her good traits was that she always looked out for her friends' best interests.

It would be in her benefit as well since they would be expected to work as a team for now on.  
And she knew just where to get the information firsthand.

* * *

"I can't believe I got put with Sakura! Naruto complained over another bowl of ramen. He and Ino had stayed behind at Ichiraku's after Sasuke and Shikamaru had left - they could never manage quite as much as the two blondes could.

Ino was surprised by Naruto's frustrated tone of voice.  
Surely, he should be happy? He was on the same team as the girl he liked...

"I thought you liked her? Shouldn't you be glad you're on the same team?" she asked, managing to keep the bitter tone out of her voice. She realised she was stupid for making her heartache worse but she could not leave her curiosity unsatisfied. It was impossible for her, especially when it concerned Naruto.

"I do…" a miniscule blush appeared on his whisker-marked cheeks. "But she's not really the best ninja. She sucks at anything involving hand-to-hand combat, and has no techniques to call her own.

"I know she's not from a ninja family but that's what the library is for! She's smart; she should go get a couple of scrolls on illusions or something! She had good chakra control but she doesn't put much effort into the practical stuff. Being a bookworm isn't going to be much use in a fight."

If Ino had been surprised by Naruto's statement (which she was. Very much so.), she was shocked by what he said next.

"I'd really been hoping we'd be on the same team! You aren't a bookworm, but you're smarter than I am, and you're actually useful in a fight! I know that from experience…"

She briefly remembered the rain weapons they had been forced to fight off.

"…besides, you talk to me! And you only beat me up when I'm completely stupid."

He gulped down the remains of a bowl of noodles before starting on the other Teuchi had placed in front of him almost immediately.  
Ino could not help but smile at his statement.

"I wish I was with you and Sasuke. Shikamaru is so lazy, and all Choji does is eat! We're never going to get anything done…" she groaned.  
"Aw, come on! They can't be that bad! Besides, Sasuke and I are just going to fight all the time so you wouldn't get much done with us either!"

Ino giggled into her own bowl of ramen after considering his words.  
"I suppose you have a point there.

* * *

'_Found you!' _inner Sakura cried when she caught sight of her black-haired team-mate. However instead she called out him. He looked up from his rice ball to see her standing with her own lunch box a few feet away from him.

"Is it ok if I sit here?" she asked, in a much less… _excitable _manner than she normally would have. Warnings blaring inside his head, he cautiously nodded and she took a seat beside him on the stone bench.

"What do you have in your rice balls?" she asked, munching on an egg roll.  
"Tomatoes and cod roe" he answered mechanically.

'_I'm getting nowhere with this small talk…'_ she thought to herself.

"Sasuke, can I ask you something?" Sakura asked him politely. Secretly, this scared the shit out of Sasuke. He would much rather see the usual loud, excitable fan-girl than this strange, relatively normal young female human (Sasuke considered fan girls to be a separate species).

However, this unusual sincerity from the loudest of his stalkers aroused his curiosity.  
"Do whatever you want. Whether I answer or not depends on the question."

Sakura seemed to think about this for a moment, most likely carefully choosing her words.  
"How much…" she paused, finding her phrasing wasn't to her liking.

"…You're friends with Naruto right? How well do you know him?"

The alarm bells ringing in Sasuke's head grew louder and he narrowed his eyes at the girl. He had not, by any means heard all of her little exchange with Ino before lunch, but he had heard enough to know she did not have a high opinion of his friend.

He took a new interest in the conversation; making sure the girl did not poke her nose into Naruto's life where it was not wanted. Naruto may have a crush on her, but he would not let her into his life completely. He would not do that even with Ino, Shikamaru, or himself.

Sakura felt like turning around and abandoning her mission altogether when Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Somehow, she got the feeling he knew she did not see much of anything in their fellow teammate. However, she wanted to know the blonde boy a little better, if only for Ino's sake.

"I've known him since I was four years old. He might as well be part of my family. Why? You never cared about him before. What's got you interested all of a sudden?"

Sakura winced at the sharp tone in his voice. He definitely knew she did not think much of the blonde if the glare accompanying the razor edge in his voice was any indication.

"Well… we're teammates now. I figured I should try to get to know him, since we're going to be working togeth-"  
"That's bullcrap. If you wanted to get to know him that badly you would ask him yourself. What do you really want to know?"

Deciding it would be in her best interest to tell the truth Sakura gave a brief version of what had happened that morning when she was talking to Ino. His eyes narrowed dangerously, flecks of red present in the normal black, when she told him she thought Naruto had cheated but she pressed on and explained it from her point of view.

He seemed to lighten up a bit when he found out she just wanted to look out for her friend if needed, though he gave her a colder look than he normally did. Apparently, he liked her accusation on Naruto as much as Ino had, not that she was surprised.

* * *

"…the point is, I don't know why she seems to like him so much. He's nothing special, and he acts like a complete idiot! Ino told me about the thing with Shikamaru's granny's dog! If I did something like that, I would be grounded until hell froze over!

"Inochi lets him get away with it because he's not really his kid. Naruto's lucky he doesn't have someone to tell him what to do as much as the rest of us, but he just abuses it by acting stupid. I don't understand why she likes him!" she finalised.

Sasuke felt like killing the girl for the ending of her speech, but he chose to drive some sense into her skull instead.

"Sakura, who taught you how to read?"  
"Huh?" Sakura frowned in confusion. "I don't understand the question. What does reading have to do with Naruto?"

Sasuke sighed.  
"The academy doesn't teach us how to read or write or anything like that. It's all stuff to do with being a ninja. The geography of fire country, how to throw shuriken, the basics of the chakra network. There's no time to learn it, but we still need it. Who taught you?"

"My parents did, who else would it have been?"  
"So did mine. But Naruto doesn't have parents."

Sakura's eyes widened in understanding. She had not even thought about that.

"He doesn't know his father's name, and his mother disappeared of the face of the earth when he was three. When Inochi adopted him he did his best to keep out of his way and not have him worry about him, since Inochi was already on his own looking after Ino. Inochi assumed Naruto knew everything already since he joined the academy a year early, but he did not. That's half the reason he failed to graduate from his first year so many times."

"But… he graduated, so he must've learned at some point." Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah, about four years ago. We had a test and Iruka noticed Naruto didn't even bother to attempt the questions, even though it was an easy test that civilians could have answered. Naruto had tried to graduate three times before that, so he couldn't not know the stuff. Iruka held him back and found out about it.

"None of the other teachers had bothered to do anything about it since they don't like him for some reason, and Naruto would rather die than bother someone by asking for help. Iruka ended up sending my dad a letter asking him to help. Itachi taught him and I helped a bit once I stopped laughing. He still can't read kanji very well, and tends to use simpler writing like hiragana and katakana instead."

Sakura was silent. Some of it was the shock of hearing Sasuke talk so much in one go, but mostly it was a mixture of guilt and humiliation.

"Are you jealous of him for having no parents now?" Sasuke asked.  
"…no. I just feel guilty for just presuming things."

Sasuke smirked in triumph. Maybe there was a small smidgen of hope for this girl after all. However, it was a very minute smidgen.

"Good. You said you wanted to know more about Naruto, but you won't learn much by coming to me. I only told you that because you needed a wake-up call, not because I wanted to help you out. I am not going to say anything until you improve your opinion of him. You don't deserve it at the moment."

Sakura reluctantly nodded her head in reply. His…speech… (It was very odd to think of Sasuke making a speech.) had opened her eyes very wide. She was now very aware of just how judgemental she was, and agreed she did not deserve any help he may have been able to give her.

Seeing Sakura looking so rueful made him a little guilty. Sure, she had needed to open her eyes a bit but he might have been a bit too… to the point. He would in no way directly give the girl any information, but giving her a hand in getting started could not hurt as long as he did not directly tell her anything he hadn't already.

"There are also a lot of things Naruto doesn't tell us, and were his friends. If Ino had not told Shikamaru and I about his mother, I probably wouldn't know even now. Ino only knows because her father knew his mother and told her what happened."

Sakura perked up at the sound of his voice and she seemed shocked as his words sunk in. like everyone else, she saw Naruto to be a smiling boy who trusted easily. In some ways he was, but in others… not so much.

"If you want to get to know Naruto, you'll have to go to the horse's mouth. And I guarantee it will not be easy for you - even if he does like you, he barley knows you. He won't open up until he trusts you completely."

Sakura contemplated this silently and was about to say something when…

* * *

"BOTTOM-BOY! LAZY ASS GOT STUCK ON YOUR ROOF!" Sakura and Sasuke looked up - in surprise and anger/disbelief respectively - to see Naruto standing some distance away with Ino.

"How the hell did he does he keep doing that? AND I SAID TO STOP CALLING ME BOTTOM-BOY, FISHCAKE!" Sasuke yelled, clearly irritated, as the two blondes ran up to them. Naruto grinned at Sakura and gave her a loud greeting whilst Ino gave her a cold glare.

"Shika thought he'd found a safe spot to go cloud watching but it keeps creaking, and when some of the tiles came of they took the ladder he used to get up with them and it broke…" Ino trailed of when Sasuke asked what happened.

"…what on earth made him think he found a safe spot?" Sasuke asked incredulously.  
Sakura stared at him incredulously when his eyebrow twitched.

"…I don't know he just mumbled something about problematic clouds"  
"You'd think he'd avoid the roof with how much he goes on about things being problematic or troublesome…" Naruto grumbled as Sasuke massaged his temples, deep in thought.

"Ino, you go tell Iruka we might be late, Naruto - I think we'll have to use the pole again…"  
"Aww crud… are you shitting me? That pole is a nightmare!" Naruto groaned following Sasuke as he turned of in the direction the two blondes had come from moments before.

"We've no choice; we broke the spare ladder rescuing that lazy idiot the last time this happened and Itachi is on a mission this week."

Naruto snorted in obvious disbelief.  
"More like trailing after Ayame"

"What?! Ayame? Teuchi's daughter Ayame? The one who makes the tomato ramen?!"  
"Do we know any other Ayame? Because Itachi sure as hell wont!"  
"When did that happen?" Sasuke asked incredulously.  
"Two months ago. He spilled ramen all over the place and she was fussing all over him like a hen. I swear on my life with god as my witness I saw him blush!"

"That's impossible! I've never seen him blush at all!"  
"How can you not notice all this when you both live in the same house?"  
"Because it's impossible!"

Their voices faded as they moved away from the two girls who had been stuck in an awkward silence since they had left them to their own devices. Ino soon turned away from Sakura, intent on returning to the academy to find Iruka.

"Ino, wait!" Sakura cried after watching the blonde girl walk away for a few moments.

Ino paused her footsteps and turned to face her.  
"What?" she asked frostily.

* * *

**_no manga last week.  
sniffle.  
cant wait for friday. for some reason i have this got feeling that im going to burst into tears fore some reason though either because of sasuke, sakura, naruto, or a combination of sasunaru and narusaku pretty soon. i know it. i swear i lost two pint of water through crying during orochimarus hideout meeting and then two more at the bit about itachi._**

**_something big is coming. my spidey-senses are tingling and inform me theri a a great disturbance in the force.  
in the naruto-verse. the crying-buckets kind of disturbance.  
_**

**_me likey reveiws.  
(despite all defence measures i have trned into a very slutty reveiw whore with the looses morals in the red light distrit)  
i'll give you sushi if you reveiw, which is perfect for me because i absolotley loathe fish. it disgusting, so you can have as much as you want._**

on another note, im looking for someone to give me some advice on writing lemons. ive read plenty and written a lime, but not an actual lemon. and i want to put a lemon in this. if teres anyone willing to help me out here please send a PM!  
(also loking for tips on how to write a yaoi lemon)

Much love my bug-eyed freinds.  
Natarii.  
xxx


	6. The First Impressions Are Always Worst

**_My darling Gremlins, we have been over this.  
I. Do. Not. Own. Naruto._**

**_*Sobs hysterically into pillow*  
_**

* * *

"_Ino, wait!" Sakura cried after watching the blonde girl walk away for a few moments.  
Ino paused, and turned to face her._  
"_What?" she asked frostily._

Sakura flinched at her icy attitude but persevered.  
"Ino… I wanted to apologize for being so… I should not have said all that. You're right, I don't know anything about Naruto but I dint hesitate to mouth-off or assume things. You had every right to be mad at me… and I want to make it up to you."

Ino listened to her with a chilly calmness, and the feeling continued as she considered Sakura's words.  
"Sasuke knocked some sense into you then. I wondered why he was with you when we arrived…"

Sakura did not reply. She felt guilty that shed had to have Sasuke spell something out for her she should have realised the moment Ino started yelling.

"Do you know what really makes me mad?" Ino asked in a dismayed voice.  
Sakura shook her head negatively.

"Naruto knows what you think of him, he knows you're not much use in a physical fight, and that you're chasing his best friend like a puppy, but he likes you anyway! And I cannot for the life of me figure out why! You don't deserve it, so why does he continue bowing to your every whim? He will do anything you ask and you couldn't care less! So why?"

Sakura winced at Ino's vocalizations. She had a point, Naruto did anything she asked. During teamwork exercises, he'd always backed her ideas before anyone else's even if they were terrible. And she could really care less.  
"I don't know…" she mumbled.

"I grew up with him! I know him better than anyone, even better than Sasuke! I was there when things got so hard that even _he_ wanted to give up! I was right there next to him fighting for our lives, and if I hadn't contacted my father when I had, we might not be here now! I actually care about him, so why does he keep chasing you?!"

Sakura would have preferred it if the blonde girl had been screaming instead of the calm irritation she used to convey her message.  
"I'm sorry." Sakura replied sincerely. Ino kept that glacial gaze on her for several more moments.

"I know, and don't think that I don't Sakura, but you should have realized you were out of line by yourself. Instead, Sasuke had to beat it into you when you didn't listen to me."

Sakura said nothing. There was no need.

"I think you already know this but, I don't want to see you right now. I feel like beating the snot out of you, and I do not want to do that. You're my best friend, even if you can be a total bitch at times." Ino gave her the familiar smirk (that she was supposedly giving up) and Sakura smiled for what seemed the first time in years.

"I won't loose to you, billboard head." Ino said with a real smile on her face, before turning away and heading to the academy as per the original plan.

"I won't give up so easily either, piggy." Sakura said to Ino's back, just loud ebough for the blonde to hear.

* * *

After lunch, the Jonin entered the classroom, calling out their team numbers.

A purple haired woman in a mesh t-shirt and pale-tan leather trench coat smiled sadistically as she called out for Team 8.  
Poor Hinata was shaking like a leaf from the mere sight of the woman. Kiba could smell the oily smell of snakes on the woman. He whimpered as he got up to follow her out of the room. Shino didn't seem too be nervous, but a buzzing from his coat told him his insects were agitated. From what Naruto knew of the Aburame clan, if the human host was agitated then the insects would be as well. Shino was as freaked out as his team members were.

A brown haired man, who had a cigarette in his mouth, called for Team 10.

Ino and Choji stood up, however Shikamaru took some ended up screaming _'stop pretending to sleep you lazy idiot!'_ in his ear before he finally stood up. Naruto could have sworn he had seen a defeated look in the eyes of their new teacher before walking them out the door. Ino cheerfully waved goodbye to them, promising to meet up at Ichiraku's later, whist Shikamaru simply grumbled.

One by one, the other teams were all taken out by their teachers. Eventually, only Team 7 was left.  
If they had been in a field, crickets would have been chirping.  
After another half-hour of waiting, Sakura chose to break the chirping-less silence.

"We did pass, right?"  
"Yep." Naruto replied lazily. He had slumped over and was resting his chin on the wooden desk in front of them, absently watching the rolling motion of the pen he was poking with his finger.

Sasuke yawned. Moments later, his two companions did the same.

_

* * *

_

As the members of team seven slept, team 10 were busy introducing themselves to their new Jonin Sensei and squad leader, Asuma Sarutobi.

The man surveyed the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. As far as he could tell, they were going to be a handful. At the moment, Ino was yelling her head off trying to awaken Shikamaru again and trying to get Choji to stop eating for once.

"Will you two get serious? Were Genin now! Act it! I bet Naruto and Sasuke aren't acting so stupid!"

'_Naruto's team are probably still waiting for Kakashi to even turn up…' _Asuma thought to himself as he watched his new team bicker amongst themselves. However, he kept his thoughts to himself, instead choosing to get the introductions out of the way. After gaining the attention of the three graduates, he introduced himself, and then asked them to do the same.

"Alright, introduce yourselves. Lazy Kid, You can go first" Shikamaru grumbled slightly at being made to go first, however he decided to get it over sooner would be best.

"Shikamaru Nara. I like…" He paused for a moment, clearly in concentration mode. "Clouds and sleeping I guess… Oh, and Ramen too… probably…"

Asuma could already feel the permanent headache caused by the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio. _'This boy is the epitome of laziness. Even for a Nara, this is bad…'_

"I dislike…" Again, there was a pause. The boy had obviously never considered his likes or dislikes to such a certain extent before:

"Anything that causes problems, complications, or difficulties…"  
'_Aren't those… all the same thing…?'_

"… And Sasuke's Roof!"  
'…_What did that roof do to warrant such conviction from a Nara?'_

"And people arguing."  
'_Great. His parents' marriage problems are giving him issues. I don't want Genin with issues!'_

"My dream is to be an average ninja, have an ordinary career, marry a normal girl, have two kids; a girl and then a boy, retire when my daughter marries and my son becomes a ninja, and then spend the rest of my days playing Shogi and Go until I die before my wife."  
'_Wow. Talk about planning ahead…'_

Asuma decided not to even bother asking about the roof. He decided it would be better for his mental health to avoid the subject. Instead, he moved onto his only female student.

"And the little blonde girlie."  
Ino felt like punching the man when she heard the word 'girlie'

"I'm Ino Yamanaka. I like ramen, okonomiyaki, my friends, gardening, and…" she glanced towards the window of the classroom they had previously been sitting in, and her face instantly turned beet red. A head of blonde hair could be seen if one looked closely enough.  
'_Oh wonderful. She has a crush. Well, at least it's not on one of these two…' _

"I dislike the roof of a certain clan's main house…"  
'_This had better not be the Uchiha roof again…'_

"…slugs, and being woken up."  
Asuma breathed a sigh of relief. That had not been too bad, other than the possible roof-hatred.

"Oh! And Mizuki! I am going to castrate him and turn his mind to jelly as soon as I can think of a justifiable reason, or an alibi and a place to hide his body. Whichever comes first. Either way, he's going down!"

Asuma felt his headache worsen.  
_'What does she have against Mizuki?! Is this because of what happened with Naruto? Urgh…'_

"My goals are to become the first female head of the interrogation department whilst being a strong clan leader. I'd also like to learn Medical Techniques, and my dream is to…" once again, there was a glance to the window, and Ino turned into a beetroot again.  
'_Th... That's a lot of goals… '_

Asuma smiled at her before moving onto Choji.

"Alright, last of all Mr Chubb-" Shikamaru instantly clamped a hand over Asuma's mouth.  
"If you value your life, you will not say that word, ever! Trust me, it not worth the trouble" he hissed hurriedly.

Asuma, who had never seen a Nara move so fat in his life, decided to listen to , Choji had not noticed the mayhem and was still munching on some crisps.

"Oi, mister monster munch! Your turn!" Asuma shouted.  
Choji realised it was his turn and introduced himself.

"I'm Choji Akimichi. I like food, especially barbecue. I dislike people who waste food, steal my food, and words like 'chubby' or 'fatso' my dream is to be a strong ninja and master all my family's techniques."  
'_well at least one of them seems normal…'_

He smiled, and took a puf on his cigarette before speaking afain.

"alright now that we've got to know each other, I'm warning you that this next test will not be easy. Of the twenty seven graduates, sixty percent of you will fail this test and you have every chance of being rat of that sixty-" he cut off whe he saw all three of his new students seemingly crying at the thought.

"Oi, oi! It might be hard but it's nothing to cry abou-"  
"It's that bloody cigarette smoke you nitwit!"  
"It really stings…" Choji complained rubbing his eyes.  
"Tch. This is going to be such a pain to put up with…"

* * *

Another twenty minuets passed, and Sakura spoke again.

"Are you really sure we passed?"  
"Yep." Naruto had grown bored of the pencil, and was trying to see how long it would take for Sasuke to wake up and realise he had stuffed two sticks of pocky up his nose.  
After five minuets, there was a spluttering noise as Sasuke woke up. He whacked Naruto across the back of his head, and promptly went back to sleep.

_

* * *

_

Team 10 cowered at the sight of their new teacher. She had just devoured ten plates of dango (not including their own, which she had also eaten) like drinking water. she also seemed to have a scary and sadistic gleam in her eyes.

"Alright my little maggots, I'm Anko mitarashi. If you even whisper the word 'Sensei' I will stick a snake up your ass. I like snakes and Dango and torturing people. I hate my former… co-student… for lack of a better term."

"Wouldn't team mate be a better example? Since you once worked together?" Shino asked. Anko made a strange yet ominous growling noise and he cowered in his seat.

"My dream is to castrate, maim, and bump off said ex-co-student." she finished.  
"M-My mistake…" Shino gabbled out. Anko grinned at him, which made Shino try to lean away from her in his seat.

She turned to Hinata who froze in her seat when the woman looked her way.  
"Alright miss white-eyes. You can go first." their teacher said around yet another mouthful of Dango.

""I-I'm… H-Hinata… Hyuuga. I-I like…"  
Hinata never finished her sentence as she had fainted due to fright.

"…I can't turn her into an assassin if she can't even stand up!" Anko grumbled to herself.  
The two boys paled slightly. Had she just said assassin?  
They hoped not.

"Tch. Alright you next mutt." she turned her gaze on Kiba, who had leapt to Hinata's side after she collapsed.  
"But what about Hinata?!"  
"She'll wake up eventually. Just get on with it. I have to test you yet, and god knows how long that's going to take."  
"But Hinata-"

Anko glared at him. Akamaru whined and curled deeper into Kiba's jacket. Kiba also whimpered under that crazy look. Shino tried to shrink and internally prayed he would live to see the end of the day.

* * *

Kakashi gave his new Genin a lazy look.  
His new Genin glared daggers at him.

He had ended up being three hours late. Naruto and Sasuke had sought revenge in the form of a blackboard eraser, but it was a small victory. Eventually, the grey haired man broke the silence by introducing himself.

"Well, my little Gremlins, I'm Kakashi Hatake and I will be acting as commander of team seven. I have a lot of likes, a few dislikes…"

The three Genin glared at him.  
"And I have a couple of dreams, but they don't concern you!" he smiled cheerfully through his mask.

"What was that supposed to be?" Sakura snorted.  
"What was the point in talking so much if you were only going to tell us your name?" Naruto asked. Sasuke snickered slightly.

Kakashi ignored them and continued to smile though his mask.  
"Alright Pinky, ladies first"

Sakura glared at him.  
"I'm Sakura Haruno. I like Ino… sort of. And…" she glanced at Sasuke, and a small splash of pink appeared on her face.  
'_Oh yay! She has a crush! How absolutely spiffing! NOT.'_

"I dislike Ino… sort of…"  
'_So… does she like the Yamanaka girl or not?'_

" …and miso, tomatoes and perver-" she was cut of by two glares from Naruto and Sasuke. She had just insulted their favourite varieties of ramen.  
'…_Are they going to get along?'_

"My dream is to be a strong female ninja, possibly a medic or an illusion specialist since I've got good chakra control I'm not sure which though, and…" once again, she looked at Sasuke and blushed. Sasuke shivered.  
'…_I don't do crushes. And why can't she make up her mind on something?' _

"Ok, moving onto Bottom Boy here-"  
"What the fuck?! Not you as well!  
"Just get on with it bastard! Ichiraku's closes in two hours!" Naruto yelled in irritation. It had the desired result though.

"Sasuke Uchiha. I like Training, Ramen, and… err…"  
"Men?" Naruto offered. Sakura, despite herself, could not help but laugh at Sasuke's face. She managed to keep it suppressed, but she still snorted a little bit.

"Fuck You!"  
"Are you insane? Hell no! I'm straight as a pole, unlike you Lord Rainbow!"

Naruto seemed traumatized at the mere thought.  
Sasuke spluttered in outrage.  
Sakura erupted into gales of laughter.  
Kakashi felt a headache.

Eventually Naruto realized Kakashi was getting impatient and decided to hurry things along.  
"Sasuke… if the ramen shop closes I will blame you for my hunger later on." Naruto told him, a slight smirk on his face.

Sasuke's face paled at the thought of Naruto on a hunger rampage. The last time that had happened, he had glued drawing pins all over his bedroom floor and he'd had to sleep on the sofa. That or shred his feet to ribbons trying to cross the floor.

"I dislike the roof of my house, anything that causes my schedules to be interrupted or delayed, the nickname bottom-boy and other similar innuendos, and the disturbing, inhuman creatures known as fan girls. My dream is to be as great a ninja as my brother."  
'_Oh great. An Uchiha with a brother complex…' _

Kakashi decided not to ask about the roof for the sake of his own sanity. He had to preserve it just in case these darling gremlins passed his test (Which seemed increasingly likely despite the obvious psychological issues the three aforementioned gremlins had).

Therefore, Instead of asking about the roof, he moved onto the last member of his team, the child of his own teacher.  
"And last, but not least, Blondie" Naruto grinned, which made Kakashi shiver for some reason.

"Naruto Uzumaki. I like Ramen, Ino's leftovers, sleeping, pissing of Itachi, annoying Sasuke and a whole bunch of other crap."  
'_Oh god… he's got Minato's sense of humour, only with Kushina's personality and her potty mouth…'_

"I dislike the time taken to cook ramen or warm up leftovers, people who interrupt my sleep, the roof of Sasuke's house…"  
'…_I wonder if any of the other new Genins have this strange roof-hatred disease'_

"…people who go onto said roof thinking they're going to be safe when they know they wont be and have to be rescued…" Sasuke nodded at this approvingly. Sakura gave them both an odd look. Apparently, he was not the only one who found this roof-hatred a bit unhealthy.

"…Itachi's writing exercises, angry Nara's, anything pervy or relevant to Sex Ed, and Mizuki."  
'_Well, I can understand Mizuki… but pervy stuff? Maybe I had better put a cover on Icha Icha Paradise. He might bribe Sasuke into burning it if he sees it...' _For some reason, the possibility seemed very likely.

"What do you mean by writing exercises?" Kakashi asked, genuinely confused. Well, more so than he already was.  
"The idiot didn't tell anyone he couldn't read Kanji until he was eight and repeating first year for the third time" Sasuke clarified, much to Naruto's indignation.

"Bastard! What did you tell him that for?!"  
"Revenge for the innuendo about being gay, idiot."

Kakashi stared at Naruto, obviously shocked by Sasuke's revelation about the blonde.  
"You couldn't read until then? Why didn't your mother teach you? Surely she knew the academy doesn't cover basic education?"

Naruto tensed and Sasuke felt like strangling Kakashi. He had to pick that landmine to step on!  
Of all the possible landmines!  
Why couldn't he have just called him an idiot and be done with it? From his way of talking, he obviously knew Naruto's mother, so he must have known she had vanished of the face of the earth.

So why was he stepping on the bad landmines?!

Sakura felt the newly awkward atmosphere and wondered if it was too late to ask for a team transfer.

Kakashi, who had been genuinely curious, looked at his team and felt a headache. Sasuke looked like he wanted to strangle him, the pink haired girl seemed to be a nervous wreck and kept shooting Naruto worried glances, and the said blonde seemed to have turned into a very gloomy type of stone.

'_What did I miss? What happened? I just asked why his mother… Oh. Oh bugger...'_

"Ramen shop's gonna close if you don't hurry up! We'll be late and then I'll be late for my training with dad!" Sasuke yelled hurriedly. It was a last resort but it worked.

Naruto quickly got back to the main subject, though whether it was because of Sasuke's possible wrath or the ramen…

"My dreams are to become Hokage and…"  
'_Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like his next goal?' _

"…locate a missing family member."  
'_Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have taken on a Genin team!'_

Kakashi observed his team for a few moments before he hung his head and sighed in resignation.

'_Great. A schedule obsessive Uchiha with a brother complex, and en emotionally damaged Namikaze-Uzumaki hybrid with a demon sealed inside him both with a strange grudge against the roof of the Uchiha complex, accompanied by a fan girl with decision-making issues. Why am I doing this again?'_

"I think you little gremlins need to see a psychologist."

"Pot? Kettle? Black? Anyone?" Naruto asked rhetorically  
"Like you can talk Mr Porn-Reading-Grey-Haired-Cyclops-man." Sasuke snorted.  
'…_did he just call me Cyclops?'_

"Did he just suggest were insane?" Sakura asked her team-mates. "_He_ calls us _Gremlins_ and _we_ need to see a psychologist? Is he being funny or is he just a hypocrite?"

'…_definitely need to see a psychologist'_

_

* * *

_

"I asked you a question. Be so good as to answer it… Mizuki." Ibiki spat the man's name as he signalled for Inochi to push more chakra into the man's brain. Inochi pulsed another short spasm of chakra into the mans brain, though it was slightly more potent than the previous one.

Mizuki screamed and struggled against the restraints that suppressed his chakra and held him in place on the metal table.  
It was not unlike an autopsy table.

Sweat poured off the man's forehead as he struggled to try to break past the barriers in the captives mind. It was impossible. Whoever had created the defences and traps in he man's mind to prevent he information it contained being obtained forcibly had done a very thorough job.

When he tired to disable one barrier, an information destruction technique popped up somewhere else and Inochi had to avoid touching it with any chakra, lest important information be lost. Once he past one layer of secrecy seals, another replaced them; with destruction seals thrown in for good measure.

"This is no use Ibiki." Inochi grumbled, releasing the technique and slumping into a nearby chair. "There are too may defences in his mind for me to handle, even with help from my team. If I try forcibly passing them, the information will self-destruct before we get our hands on it. Whoever put the information seals on him was… well, they were more than my ability can cope with."

Ibiki growled in frustration. His psychological torturing had not worked either. Some sort of dazed look came over the man after several minutes of seemingly successful psychological barraging. After that, anything he said had been completely ignored by the former Chunin. He agreed with Inochi, whomever Mizuki worked for was very skilled.

"I guess well have to resort to methods a little more… violent." Ibiki groaned.  
"Please tell me you're joking. Anko will never let us live this down." Inochi begged.  
"I know, but you hear old man Hokage…"  
"Any means necessary… you don't hear that from him much, can't say I'm complaining though. The bastard messed with my future son-in-law, and I do not like that."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. Inochi caught this and snorted.

"Come on, you really think he'll be able to run away from Ino? She'll marry him even if she has to tie him up and drag him to the altar herself."  
Ibiki seemed to think about this for a moment.

"You have a point there. Come on; let's go get the humiliating bit over with."  
"Damn it, I thought you'd forgotten about that."

* * *

After explaining the second test to his darling little gremlins and ordering them not to eat anything, Kakashi left them to their own devices. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to listen to this but Sakura want as convinced.

"Do you really think we should listen to him about the not-eating thing?" Sakura asked as they all walked down the corridors of the academy.  
Naruto and Sasuke turned and looked at her questioningly.

"I mean, if don't eat something we won't eve be able to make a transformation or use a replacement…" the two boys widened their eyes in realization.

"That bastard tried to trick us!" Naruto yelled. "Thanks Sakura! We'd have been dead meat if you hadn't said anything!" Naruto grinned at her. Sakura would have ignored him or pushed him out of the way at the beginning of the day, but now - late in the afternoon - returned the smile instead. It was only a small one, but it was still there.

"Were team mates now, we have to make sure we don't do anything stupid, idiot." she stated before moving ahead of the stunned blonde. Sasuke had one of his smirky-smiles on hearing her, but t vanished when she heard what she said next.

"That goes for you too, Sasuke"  
Naruto laughed, Sakura grinned, and Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

* * *

"_I've just received confirmation. He will create an opening for us provided we aid him with his own plans."_  
"_Finally! What did he suggest we do Yotsuba? An easily excitable man by the name of Takuro asked._

"_He will make his move during the finals of the Chunin exams. He will create one opening in that time frame; we cannot afford to miss it."_  
"_What are his plans?" a man named Takeshi queried._

"_I don't know the details, but there was something about test subjects and getting rid of an eyesore. I didn't think it best to ask for clarification." their superior answered, seemingly displeased he had managed to wheedle out of their 'ally'_

"_Who cares? As long as he gives us the chance to get rid of that Kyuubi brat permanently, I don't care what he does!" Takuro slammed his fist into the wall angrily. Some of the plaster peeled from the wall._

"_And those traitors. If we can't get him, then we can at least get rid of his little tag-along's. If we fail and they're still around well have a harder time going for a second try." Takeshi added sincerely._

"_Enough! We need to plan our attack or the only thing we'll accomplish is handing ourselves to the Black Ops for the death penalty!" Yotsuba roared at his fellow conspirators._

"_Yes Yotsuba."_  
"_Yes Yotsuba." Came the meek replies from Takeshi and Takuro._

_

* * *

_

Naruto walked into the small florist's shop that covered the entrance to the Yamanaka clan house. He walked behind the sales desk and checked to see he was alone. Seeing and hearing no signs of anyone else in the shop, he pulled aside a Childs drawing (probably by Ino) that was pinned to the notice board behind the desk.

After pushing some chakra into the seal hidden there, there was a groaning noise from the blank, uncoverd wall to the left. After a few minuets an earthy door appeared. Naruto walked through the door closing it behind him. The door seemingly melted back into the wall seconds after closing.

After passing through the entrance, came the task of finding his way through the maze of grassy, earthen passages between the earthy coloured houses. One would think that the Inuzuka clan had an earthy disposition, but no. it was the mind wandering Yamanaka clan.

Unlike the rest of Konoha, the clan predominantly used stone instead of wood in their buildings, which were later covered in earth and left to nature. The houses looked like strange little rounded hillocks popping up out of the middle of the field.

Well, they did if you could find them. The houses were scattered through a curvy maze of hedges, walls of earth, brambles and other natural obstructions. You could try jump over them but the entire area was infused with chakra. The 'walls' would instantly shoot up if you tried to jump, and would attack if you did. The place was alive, and almost impossible to navigate. He had once questioned Ino's father about the need for such drastic security measures.

Inochi had told him that the Yamanaka clan, for Konoha, had primarily developed many of the best mind reading techniques in existence, and many other villages would literally kill to get their hands on them. Naruto countered that none of the other clans had gone to such lengths for security. Inochi had laughed and said that they had, they just weren't as obvious.

Naruto had quickly changed his mind during a less than successful adventure into the Nara compound with Sasuke. They had tried scaling over the wall of the Nara compound to visit Shikamaru instead of using the door.

It was the middle of the day but the shadows had gobbled them up all the same. One minuet they were on the wall the next they had been falling through nothingness before landing on the floor of Shikaku's office. Shikaku had laughed his ass off whilst his crotchety old mother and her dog pursed her lips in disdain.

Naruto didn't want to think what kind of defences th Hyuugas had. He'd asked Sasuke if his clan had any, but all the boy had said was _'like anyone would be stupid enough to break into a place swarming with Sharingan users'_. Naruto then reminded him how they met and he added _'except you'_, much to Naruto irritation.

having gown up in this 'nature world' since he was three years old till a couple of months before his seventh birthday, Naruto had no problems navigating the endless maze. Within ten minuets he had reached ythe center of the maze and the main house, though its odly distinguishing features were its slightly larger size and purple door.

"Ino? Mr Inochi?" he called out, as he opened the door.  
"In the living room Naruto!" Ino's father called.

After moving through the hallway, he came to the living room, where Ino's father was seated on the sofa reading some files. On his lap, a hedgehog roughly the size of a small dog was maling snuffling noises as Inochi scratced hin behind his ears.  
"Hey Mr Inochi, is Ino around?" he asked hopefully.

Inochi looked up and smiled in greeting.  
"She's in the shower; she'll be done in a few minuets though."  
"Do you mind if I wait? I really want to talk to her."

Actually, he could barley keep from jumping up and down. He had good news he wanted to share with her.  
It must have showed on his face going by Inochi's question.  
"Does this have anything to do with why you look like the cat that got Spikes food?"

The giant hedgehog in Inochi's lap perked up and snuffled at the sound of his name. Spike was not that big, even though he was fully-grown. It made naruto wonder he thought to name his species 'giant hedgehogs' since he clearly wasnt a giant. He was the one of the Yamanaka family summons, though he lived with Inochi and Ino permanently. Naruto grinned at the animal and moved to scratch is belly.

"You could say that." he replied. Inochi smiled at him.  
"I'm glad. These past two days must have been… hectic." he said carefully. Naruto's scratching of spikes belly slowed slightly, and he nodded solemnly.

There was an awkward silence for several minuets before Naruto sat down next to him on the sofa, and spoke again.  
"Mr Inochi, you knew my mother right?" he asked as Spike shuffled onto the boys lap for more fussing.

His question surprised Inochi. Naruto's family was normally a taboo subject for him, especially his mother. He rarely asked about her, and no one who knew him well enough ever pushed the subject. He could count on one hand the number of times Naruto had asked about his family since he stopped asking when he was 6 years old. including this one, two talks with the Hokage, and one with Mikoto Uchiha, that was a grand total of four times.

Inochi's curiosity and sense of caution was blaring inside his head.

"yes, she took my job as a Black Ops Unit Captain when she came with the other whirlpool refugees. She was our midwife when Ino was born."  
Inochi replied carfully. He knew he was safe with his answer, Naruto knew his mother was originally from whirlpool country, and had been a black ops captain.

"she was your wife's midwighllplf…" Naruto got slightly tongue-tied from speaking so fast. Inochi laughed at him earning a pout from the boy.  
"yes, you didn't know that? She was a medical ninja, but transferred to hospital work after you were born. Inocho requested her actually."

"Inocho?" Naruto asked. He didn't recognise the name, and it sounded a little different than normal Yamanaka names. Like a combination of Yamanaka and Akimichi names.

"my wife, Ino's mother. She was an Akimichi originally." Inochi's eyes grew soft at the memory of his wife. "Choko Akimichi, Choji's aunt."

Naruto was surprised. He knew Shikamaru's mother was Ino's cousin, but not Choji. Apparentley the Ino-shika-cho clans took went past teamwork.

"she added the kanji for pig to the one for butterfly when she married me. Something about wanting to sound like a real Yamanaka." Inochi chuckled when he remembered his wife's antics, then his face grew more serious.

"but that's not what you wanted to ask is it?" Naruto would have asked if he was a mind reader, but Ino would never let him live it down if she overheard, so instead he nodded.  
"when she… I mean that _thing _inside me_…_ that er…" Naruto struggled for words. He didn't want to risk Ino overhearing him "Mister Fluffy… did she…I mean…"

Naruto was struggling to get the words out. Thinking about his mothers reasons for leaving was one thing. Saying it was quite another. He felt bad enough thinking it. Saying it meant ther reply might confirm his suspicions. He didn't want that.

Mind reader Inochi, being a mind reader and all, soon realised what his former charge was thinking. He chuckled at the words he used to substitute the creatures name and moved his arm around the boys shoulders in a comforting gesture, making Naruto jump a bit.

"No, she didn't leave because of 'mister fluffy' as you called him. There was… well, its really very complicated. Politics and all that. I don't entirely understand it myself. The only ones who do are probably your mother and those involved at the time." he said, giving the boy a one armed hug.

Spike snuffled in protest as he was squashed between them. Naruto laughed at the hedgehog's muffled snuffles and moved away to let the poor thing breathe. Spike glared at him, and then Inochi before jumping off the sofa and wandered off looking for Ino to comfort him.

"Aww! Spike! I'm sorry! Come back! I'll get some worms for you!" Naruto called after the spiky animal. There was a pause and moments later the hedgehog shuffled back into the room slightly quicker than when he had left.  
Inochi laughed.

"you greedy little hog! don't guilt trip him givin you treats!" Inochi reprimanded jokingly. He watched Naruto fuss over the hedgehog for a while before a though crossed his mind.

"Naruto"  
"yes?" Naruto looked away from spike for a moment.  
"why, of all possible words, did you pick 'mister fluffy'?"

Naruto snickered then.

"when I fell through Sasuke's roof the first time I got knocked unconscious. I didn't realise it untill Mizuki told me, but I met the thing. I was only 5 so when I looked into the cage it was in and saw a giant fluffy fox, I called it the first thing that came to mind. That was mister fluffy."

Inochi stared at him before laughing his head off. He wasn't worried about Naruto seeing the Kyuubi in a state of unconciousness, people accesed every part of their awarness when asleep and since the kyybu was sealed in Naruto it was now part of his awarness. It had a mind of its own, but it was still part of Naruto, so being able to communicate was no surprise.

It was the fact that a five year old had the gall to call the strongest of the chakra monsters to even walk the earth 'mister fluufy' that had Inochi in stitches.

* * *

Ino felt like scraming in frustration.

She'd heard Naruto's voice from the bathroom and hurried to get dressed. She had cught the part of the conversation about his mother before entering, and realised she probably shouldn't go in. She shouldn't even listen, but she couldn't help it.  
Damn that Yamanaka curiosity.

She frowned when she heard the words _'that **thing** inside me'_, and her frown deepened when Mizuki's name was brought up. She really wanted to know what they were talking about, but pigs would fly before either her father or Naruto told her anything.

The sound of her fathers laughter was the cue that the serious talk was over and that she was free to enter.

"dad, do we need anything from the shop? I'm going out so if there is tell me and I'll get it on the way back" she said as she entered the room. She feigned surprise when she saw Naruto.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" she asked. Inochi levelled his gaze on her and grinned.

_'has someone been eavesdropping?'_ Ino hid the shock and went to fuss spike instead.  
_'maybe a little. I didn't get any of it though.' _she told her father.  
_'I know, and its bugging you isn't it?'_ he asked smugly, Ino growled at him and he cut of the mental connection.

"Says he has something to tell you. He's been a pile of nerves since he got here." Inochi smirked as an idea came into his head. "You're not planning on asking my little girl on a date are you? I don't know if I want her dating yet…"

Both blondes turned cherry colour.

"W-what? No! Ino's my friend!" Naruto spluttered, tying to suppress the memory of Ino pecking him on the cheek without success.  
"E-Exactly! Were friends you stupid old man! D-don't joke like that!" Ino yelled at her father, trying to keep that incident as she called it out of her mind - and thus her fathers mind reading. Though really, if push came to shove he'd be able to find it in six seconds flat. still, no harm in trying.

Inochi chuckled at their reactions. They were rather quick to defend denail, so Ino had obviously said or done something.  
Naruto was too terrified of his _'freaky mind powers'_ and too much of a prude to do anything.

"I'm joking, I'm joking. Hurry up and tell us this news. I think I want to hear this too." he said, taking pity on the two Genin.

Naruto returned to normal almost instantly, and grinned.  
"My team passed our test! We're official Genin!" he informed them.

For a few moments the only noise was the sound of spike snuffling to be scratched some more. Ino stared at Naruto for a moment before she jumped on him, two arms around his neck. Naruto felt the air in his lungs being forced out of him  
Why did Ino always end up suffocating him?

After finishing the incoherent yet joyous yelling, she released him.

"I'm so jealous, my test isn't until tomorrow. that's if Shikamaru can be bothered to drag his but out of bed in the first place and Choji doesn't get distracted by his breakfast…" she began grumbling to herself about their faults.

Naruto looked at Inochi, who was still sitting next to him on the sofa. He leaned over and muttered a small "thank you" just low enough to avoid being heard by Ino.  
Inochi smiled.

* * *

_**Ok, I don't really know what hedghogs eat as treats other than cheese and stuff, but Wiki said they're lactose-intolerant and I figured that if Naruto had seen Spike before, he would know not to give him dairy products. I originally had ham down, since I met a hedgehog named Gregory who was rather partial to it many moons ago, but Wiki said Wormigiggles so I changed it.**_

_**I'm open to suggestions on that though.**_

_**Yay for the new chapter, but who else wants to murder Mr Mandarin?  
Yaysies for volume 45 being released in the UK! I've been waiting for that for months...  
**_

_**Press the button below.  
Please.  
Or I shall cause grevious bodily harm to Mandarin.  
Natarii  
xxx**_


	7. Was This Part Of The Mission?

_**I don't own Naruto.  
End of story.**___

* * *

"Lord Hokage, forgive me for being blunt but are you trying to be funny with the team placements?" Fugaku asked.  
Inochi and Shikaku gave him a questioning look.

"I see you picked up on that." Sarutobi smiled.

"I planned on placing Shikamaru and Sasuke with Naruto, but I did not want to break up the Ino-shika-cho group, and splitting up the Hyuuga or Inuzuka children from Shino would have caused a riot. Sakura has excellent chakra control and a good head on her, much like her father once did, before he… She will be a good partner for him." Sarutobi informed the worried looking Uchiha.

Inochi, and surprisingly Shikaku still looked confused.  
"Why are you so concerned about this Sakura girl being on the same squad as Naruto and Sasuke? From what I've seen she got potential, if she stops stalking your son that is…" Shikaku commented, earning a snort of laughter from Inochi and a frown from Fugaku.

"Inochi, you remember Minato's brother don't you?"  
Fugaku asked, in his ever-serious tone of voice.

"Sure I do" Inochi asked after reigning in his laughter.

"He was Minato's partner before Kushina came along. Married some civvie woman. Dissapeared after the Kyuubi attack though… why?"  
"Do you remember his wife's name?"  
"Sure I do, it was Moriko Harun… oh."

"I think I see why this is going." Shikaku said, rubbing his temples to try to delay the inevitable headache. "Lord Hokage, if people are targeting Naruto wouldn't forming a Namikaze-Uchiha squad be like holding a red flag in front of a bull?" he asked.

"Whatever you decide, Naruto already has a partner."  
All three Jonin turned to the window to see a grey haired masked ninja sitting on the windowsill.

"What are you talking about Kakashi?" Fugaku asked. "There aren't any members of the support branch left other than Sakura. How can he have another partner?"

"Because there are other members of the support branch still alive, those who left after the Kyuubi attack. I'm sure you can guess why, Fugaku."  
Fugaku looked away almost guiltily.

"Alright, who's this mysterious partner?" Shikaku asked. Kakashi jumped into the room and sat down in a free chair.  
"When Kushina married Minato, she joined the support branch. Her sister, Rin, did the same. Not long before Naruto was born, her sister had a baby girl, remember? It was decided that they would be partners when they became ninja." Kakashi informed them, slightly robotically.

"How do you know so much?" Shikaku asked suspiciously. Kakashi seemed to stiffen slightly at the question. Inochi and Sarutobi snickered, their memory jogged by Kakashi's tale.  
"I know you were close to Minato, he was your teacher, but his extended family? That's a bit odd…" Fugaku stated.

"Kakashi, maybe you should just tell them how you know Rin so well…" Inochi said with a grin.  
"I hate you, you know that?"  
"Don't blame me for your lack of self control."  
"That was not it. We just-"

"I hate to break up this discussion but this was not the reason I called you all here."  
All eyes flicked to the wizened yet friendly and amused face of the Hokage.

"I am aware that Naruto was partnered to Rin's daughter at birth, Sakura is a temporary placement until they meet. I believe Sakura would have decided to join the support branch anyway, if she were told of the situation" the Hokage told the three squabbling Jonin.

"But we are still getting off track. The reason I called you all here because Inochi has something to inform us of." he turned to Inochi expectantly.  
The man nodded and looked at his companions.

"Firstly, whoever Mizuki was working for is very skilled. Even with Ibiki, Anko, and several of my fellow clansmen working together, all we managed to get out of Mizuki was that Katahara and Karuko, two academy teachers, were also conspiring with whomever Mizuki was working. We suspect they were connected to the attack in the Uchiha compound but we aren't certain."

"Tch. Why are these things never easy?" Shikaku complained.  
Fugaku gave him a withering look.

"Second thing; Naruto asked me about his mother."  
"Why didn't you tell us that first?" Fugaku grumbled. Shikaku nodded, equally disgruntled by the news.

"He wanted to know if she left because of the Kyuubi; I told him it was complicated, politics and all that, and he seemed to loose interest."  
"What did you tell him that for?!" Fugaku raged.

"Because if I didn't he would have let the subject be dropped. I did not want that. When Naruto is interested in something, he goes after it and fights tooth and nail to get it. And Naruto is very interested in what happened to Kushina." Inochi informed him.

"He isn't stupid, he's known for a while that the reason for Kushina's disappearance isn't normal. I told him what I did to keep him satisfied, for now at any rate."

There was a pause as they considered his words.  
Neither piece of news was good.

"You say for now…" the leader of the deer-herders noted. "How long before you think Naruto starts looking for answers on his own?" Shikaku asked in all seriousness.

Inochi frowned.  
"I'd say… 3 months tops. After the Chunin exams finish, he will start searching for information. Moreover, the others will do whatever they can to help. Especially Ino and Sasuke."

Shikaku slapped his palm to his forehead.  
"I was afraid you'd say that…"

"By then there a possibility they'll be Chunin. That will not be a high enough rank to find out anything too involved, but it will be enough for them to realise there is something going on behind the scenes, hidden behind the Jonin rank. If Sasuke, Shikamaru, or Ino use their heads - which they probably will - they'll use their influence as clan heirs to get the information." Fugaku grumbled.

"We can't not let them participate in the exams if they earn it either." Kakashi added.  
"Exactly; in a nutshell, we are running out of time" Inochi finalised.

Sarutobi listened intently. He could not deny what his subordinates were saying, he had feared this would happen should Naruto learn about the Kyuubi early, and he had been right. He had not found a solution either. Maybe they were being too cautious; Naruto had only asked about his mother five times since he stopped asking regularly, including this most recent one. They were probably getting worried over nothing. Still, it had never hurt to be cautious.

The only problem was Sarutobi did not know how to be cautious in this case. He did not know everything, despite what some people believed. Nor had he been directly involved with the Kyuubi incident. He had been responsible for protecting the villagers hidden in the mountain shelters from the beast, not directly confronting it. He had no idea what had really happened, besides what little information Kushina had told him and what his students had seen.

An idea formed in his mind and after several moments, he decided to share it.  
"Gentlemen, I believe I have an idea" he said, interrupting the four grown men who had been arguing like children once again. "I suggest we send for Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru."

"What?!" Inochi spluttered.  
"Lord Hokage, forgive me for my rudeness but are you insane?" Kakashi asked.  
"We don't even know where they are, we'll have to find them first…" Shikaku complained.  
Fugaku said nothing, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes; _'please tell me you're joking'_

The Hokage held up his hand for silence, and upon receiving it explained his reasons for calling back his students. It was not that they would be unwelcome, far from it (despite what Orochimaru thought). They just tended to be a bit loud. Moreover, they were very destructive.

"I know what you're all thinking but those three are the only ones who know what truly happened hat night. We only have a general outline. They were right at the front line with Minato and Kushina. They will be able to sink of a better solution than we ever could. To both problems."

"This is a good idea and all, but there still the key fact that we don't know where we are to consider" Shikaku added.  
Sarutobi thought about this for a moment before coming to another decision.

"Inochi, how good would you say Spike is at tracking?" he asked the mind reader.  
"Only slightly less competent than Kakashi's dogs, why?"

"I'm giving you the job of locating Jiraiya. He will be easiest to locate, easiest to talk to, and will be able to tell the others himself. He'll probably be waiting for you with his spy network."

Inochi looked surprised at the order.  
"I'll accept the mission lord Hokage, but wouldn't Kakashi or an Inuzuka be more reliable than me and my hedgehogs?" he asked.

"Kakashi is Naruto's squad leader you dolt." Shikaku told him.  
"I know that, but he'd be more reliable than I would. An Inuzuka would be even better."

"Naruto, and possibly Sasuke, are being targeted. It is too dangerous to leave them by themselves for too long. My black operatives cannot watch them all the time. If they're busy doing missions with Kakashi, people will think twice before going after either of them." Inochi nodded in understanding, he was about to voice his second argument again but Sarutobi explained before he could open his mouth.

"As for the Inuzuka's, I've already sent their best trackers on a mission. I do not want to send anyone I do not know I can trust. Its entirely possible members of other clans could be working with those we believe to be plotting from inside the Uchiha clan. I'm not taking chances here. I know that I can trust you, and your clan summons are just as reliable as the Inuzuka hounds. What they lack in ability they make up for in determination."

"Then, I will fulfil this mission to the best of ability lord Hokage"  
"Thank you Inochi. Leave as soon as you can."

* * *

_3 DAYS LATER._

Naruto flopped onto his bed almost as soon as he had entered his little apartment. If his calculations were correct, for the 12th time since becoming a Genin that his team had been give the dreaded 'Tora-the-cat' mission. The next time he saw the cat he would succeed in strangling it behind Kakashi's back. Unlike Sasuke, he would not be stupid enough to try it right in front of the Jonin's nose. Sakura had reprimanded them for 'trying to hurt such a poor kitty' but he had a feeling she was just trying not to let her own murderous thoughts show.

He had felt pity for the animal when he first saw the rather plump wife of the feudal lord crushing the animal to her bosom, but he stopped feeling sorry for the animal after the sixth time. He was sick to death of all the scratching. Not to mention it took almost a whole day just to find the damn animal. He was exhausted.

He, the freak of stamina, was exhausted.  
Because of a scrawny little cat.  
That he did not like.

Naruto would have lain awake plotting the scrawny little animal's downfall, but he really was exhausted and soon fell asleep instead.

* * *

When Naruto awoke, he was aware of something heavy next to him.  
Something that smelled somewhat flowery. He rolled over to a face full of long blonde hair.

"What the…" the figure rolled over, and Naruto almost fell out of his open window when he backed away in shock. He grabbed onto the wall to avoid falling out of the window again, and took a closer, bug-eyed look at the girl who had taken up residence in his bed at some point during the night.

"Ino! What the fresh hell are you doing in my bed?!" he yelled as the blonde girl roused from her slumber.  
"Naruto, shut up. I'm trying to sleep!" she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand and pushing the duvet of her body with the other. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he saw she was wearing a tank top and her underwear.

Part of him had been terrified shed been naked. Another part of his mind had been excited at the possibility, but he made sure to ignore that part, though he could not help but blush at the thought. Ino was right; he was a prude.

"I-I can see that piggy! But why are you in my bed when you have you own?!" he demanded loudly, his face tinged a light pink (which, thankfully, Ino did not notice). Ino looked at him puzzled for a moment, before comprehension emerged.

"Oh yeah! My dad has a long-term mission and he didn't want me to stay all by myself so he told me to stay with you. He said he left you a note…" Naruto looked across the room to the new Formica table. On it sat a small envelope with his name on it. He had obviously failed to notice it after the blasted 'Tora' mission.

"Oh. That's fine then." Naruto said complacently, now that he had a reason for the girl's sudden appearance it was no longer a problem. He' could just sleep on his bean-bag-sofa until she left. It was comfortable enough.

"You're letting it go just like that?" Ino asked, slightly surprised. He had gotten used to the idea quicker than normal.  
"It's not like you haven't stayed the night before. I just didn't expect to wake up with you next to me. It surprised me, that's all. Don't barge into the bathroom, do your share of the chores and I don't care how long you stay."

Ino snorted.  
"Like you can do chores without help. Who brings you leftovers?"  
"You don't bring them everyday. I have to survive somehow don't I?"

Ino grunted reluctantly in reply. He had a fair point there. After several moments, however, the smirk as back on her face.

"Alright, but I call first shower!" she said dashing from the bed. Naruto chased her, knowing she would take forever and a day, but Ino was too quick for him and slipped into the shower room locking the bathroom door behind her.

* * *

Naruto was banging on the door, still in his pyjama trousers, screaming curses and raining threats when Kakashi arrived.  
"Ino! I swear to god and in the name of all that is fucking holy, I'll pin you to the floor and cut off your hair if you've used up all the hot water again!" He yelled through the door.

"You're being very loud this early in the morning." Naruto yelled and toppled over one of his chairs in was a loud crash as he toppled to the floor, somehow banging his head on the chair in the process.

"Naruto! What's going on?!" Ino yelled bursting from the shower. She was wrapped in a towel, and she was dripping wet. Her long blonde hair hung all over the place, dripping water on the floor, and she had a kunai in hand. Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. Naruto gawped for several moments before turning bright red, and turning his eyes from her.

"I-Ino! Go put something on!" he yelled. Ino was not listening. Instead, she was flicking her eyes around the room looking for some kind of enemy.  
Eventually her gaze landed on Kakashi. She shrieked and fled to the bathroom locking the door behind her.

"Why didn't you say it was just him?!" she yelled from behind the door.  
"Why did you run out half naked?!" he yelled in return.

"Is there something going on here?" Kakashi asked, smirking a bit behind his mask. "Because, you know, you two aren't old enough to be-"  
"NO! SHUT UP YOU PERVERT!!"  
"NO! SHUT UP YOU PERVERT!!"

Eventually, after several threats of grievous bodily harm and castration (from Naruto and Ino respectively) if he ever mentioned 'the incident' to anyone, Kakashi was permitted to reveal the real reason he had come visiting.

"we have a mission. Make sure you're ready."  
"if were chasing after that cat again I promise you, I'll castrate you and bribe Sasuke to burn you testicles in front of you. Then I'll get Sakura to feed you the remains" Naruto said in all seriousness.

Kakashi shifted in his seat a bit, knowing his gremlins they would be more than happy to happy to help out in this torture. Ino wondered what they were talking about, if it was anything like the mission her team kept receiving to search for a kleptomaniac little dog named Tori belonging to one the Feudal Lords wife however, then she completely sympathised with Naruto.

"I get it, I get it. No more Tora. Just make sure you turn up on time. Twelve 'o' clock  
"You mean three 'o' clock, hypocrite." Naruto corrected.

"Same thing, different wording" he retorted before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, surprising Ino. She had never seen the technique before. All her dad had shown her were clan techniques. Naruto, however, was less impressed with the technique.

He glared at the space the Jonin had just been standing in, eyebrow twitching.  
"It is not the same thing you pathetic perv of a Jonin! And I said not to do that in my house! You're not the one who has to clean up the damn leaves!"

* * *

'_Come on just this once, one row of sevens' _the blonde woman prayed as she pulled the lever. The icons of the fruit machine spun for a few moments that seemed like hours to the pig-tailed woman. Eventually the spinning stopped and the woman's jaw dropped. A small light atop the machine as the alarm blared, letting the staff know she had just won the jackpot. She did not hear or notice the frenzied activity, instead focusing on the three red seven's in front of her.

'_Why doesn't this feel right? I should be glad I won…'_

"Lady Tsunade, you won? How?!" Shizune asked clearly as flabbergasted by the numbers as she was. Tsunade paid the young woman and the pig she was carrying no attention. Instead, she grabbed their bags.

"We're leaving." she said, tossing one of the bags to Shizune, forcing her to drop her pig.  
"What? But we haven't collected your winnings!" she complained, thinking ahead to when they would need the money.  
Who knew when such a miracle would occur again?

"Fine, we'll go get the money! But then were leaving!" Tsunade snapped, cursing her old student to jump back in fright.  
"W-why so soon?" Shizune asked hesitantly. Tsunade said nothing for several moments.  
"I'm not sure. I just have a bad feeling."

* * *

Team seven was, to say the least, looking worse for wear when they dragged the deranged little animal back to the Hokage's office. Before entering however, they stuffed it into a travelling cage they had taken along for the purpose. They could have shoved the thing in earlier, but they had wanted the thing to suffer and Kakashi had not deemed it wise to order otherwise.

Lady Shijimi instantly freed her 'darling little Tora' from the 'monstrous prison' and proceeded to suffocate the creature.

"I can't help but feel a tiny bit sorry for it when she does that…" Sakura whispered to Naruto. He gave her a withering look. Unbeknownst to him, she was thinking something completely different.

'_Ha! Severs you right you little psychotic little fur ball! Serves you right for clawing at my face like that you little rat!' _she stuck out her tongue and pulled down her lower eyelid at the little cat in her mind. Sasuke and Naruto both gave her a suspicious glance when she chuckled to herself for no reason.

After the woman and her 'pet' left, the Hokage began rifling through the available missions.  
He was about to announce their options when Naruto spoke:

"old man, with all due respect, if you give us another fucking D-Rank I will make sure you never find that set of Icha Icha Paradise books hidden under the third floorboard form the fifth filing cabinet again." Kakashi looked amused, his team-mates looked shocked, and the Hokage looked panicky.

"Naruto what have I told you about your language?!" Iruka yelled. Naruto chose to ignore him.  
"What are you talking about Naruto? Lord Hokage isn't a pervert like Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura said, obviously not believing him.

"Pish. He's worse than Kakashi, and I can prove it." Naruto said with an evil gleam in his eyes.  
He was about to form the sign for a transformation when the Hokage interrupted him.

"Actually, I think I have a C-Rank going spare! You'll be escorting someone to land of wave and serving as protection for a short while, how does that sound?" Sarutobi said quickly. Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"We'll take it." Kakashi said. Naruto jumped up and down before forcing Sasuke into a high five (which he knew Sasuke secretly enjoyed) and glomped Sakura. She let him hug her for a few seconds before thumping him on the head and telling him to stop jumping around like an idiot.

* * *

"What the hell? They're a just a bunch of midgets! I asked for an escort, not a gang of snot nosed brats!" team seven turned to see a scruffy-looking man wearing a rice farmer's hat, and carrying an open sake bottle, standing in the doorway. They glared at him for the comment but he ignored them.

"That one…" he pointed to Naruto. "Looks like he cannot even read. Not to mention he's barley taller than my grandson." Naruto's eyebrow twitched.

"Pinky over here is a girl! With pink hair! How much use is she going to be?" Sakura put on a face that Sasuke and Naruto had learned to avoid the hard way, cracking her knuckles.

The man stared at Sasuke for a moment.  
"And you, you're either a hermaphrodite, or you're batting for the home team."

Kakashi barley managed to grab Sasuke by his collar, and a clone held Naruto and Sakura under an arm each. Unfortunately they had somewhat succeeded in their attack in the time it took to make the clone. Naruto had succeeded in throwing his kunai into the wall besides the man's head, and Sakura had thrown several shuriken into the space on the wall between the man's legs. Sasuke had thrown a shuriken into the sake bottle, its contents now spilled across the wooden floor.

"I am not fucking gay! Why does everyone think I am gay? I am straight you morons! Oi, Naruto are you hearing this? I am straight! Just because I do not chase after fan girls does not mean I do not like girls in general! Oi! Naruto!" unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto was not listening.

"That was just a warning you drunk! And my reading difficulties are none of your business!" Naruto yelled at the man, struggling to free himself from clone-Kakashi's arms.

"You sexist pig! Just you wait! I'll turn you into a girl the first chance I get!" she screeched, also trying to free her body from clone-Kakashi's grasp. Tazuna looked at the kunai, then down at the shuriken and swallowed nervously.

'_I didn't even see them take them out, let alone throw them. Maybe these kids aren't so useless after all…'_

"Lesson 1; no attacking the client" Kakashi said exasperatedly, keeping a firm hold of Sasuke's collar. Thankfully, it had not occurred to the boy that he could escape by taking his t-shirt off.

He sighed in resignation. He may have gotten the ones with the most potential, but why did they all have such short tempers? Sakura could keep Naruto and Sasuke in line, but keep herself in line? Not so much. In addition, Naruto was exactly like Kushina - cause mayhem now, ask questions much later.

And Sasuke? Normally, he was the calm one but if you pushed the right buttons... he could be as bad as the other two. He smiled through his mask at the now petrified looking-man. It was supposed to reassure him but the old man gave him a look that said _'you're insane too!'  
_He suddenly felt like sympathising with his little gremlins.

"Now now, Mr Tazuna, Team seven is our best Genin team to graduate from the academy this year, they all graduated in the top ten students list. They have been training since they were seven years old, six in Naruto's case. I can assure you they know what they are doing, despite their short tempers." Sarutobi told the man reassuringly.

"Besides, Kakashi is one of our best Jonin, if anything does go wrong he will also be there to help."

"Oi, old man, you're not suggesting we escort this geezer are you?" Naruto asked incredulously, still held beneath Kakashi's arm.  
Sakura sent the village leader a threatening look from underneath the opposite arm. Sasuke gave him a baby Uchiha-glare, trying to remove Kakashi's grip from his shirt collar with one hand, the other fishing around for a shuriken. Kakashi noticed this and twisted his arm behind his back before he had the chance to grasp one however.

"What did I say about killing the client?" he asked exasperatedly.  
"I wasn't planning on killing him; I was just going to maim him a little"  
"I'm not babysitting this sexist drunk." Sakura said in a voice that was not to be argued with, also still dangling from Kakashi's arm.

"We want a different mission." Naruto informed him.  
"I'm sorry but there are no other C-Ranks available, only D-Ranks." Sarutobi informed them apologetically.

"Fine, well come back later. That damn cat looks friendly next to that guy." Naruto said firmly.  
Sasuke and Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Now now gremlins, you know the rules. You carry out any mission given to you by the Hokage unless you can provide a substantial reason otherwise."

"We have a good reason." Sakura told him through gritted teeth.  
"Really? And what is that?" clone-Kakashi looked down at her, smiling.  
"If we spend more than five minuets with him, we won't have a client. Or one that can walk at any rate." Sasuke told him, as if it was obvious.

"Do you have any proof?" Kakashi asked.  
"Cyclops, did you not see us throwing those weapons? I'm not dangling under your arm for the good of my health you know." Naruto told him.  
Kakashi tried to think of a comeback as Sarutobi tried to ignore his growing headache.

* * *

Team Seven and Tazuna were waiting by the gate for Kakashi to turn up.

"I can't believe this." Sakura grumbled to herself. "Why does he always do this?!"

Naruto and Sasuke ignored her, and continued to talk quietly between themselves. Sakura did not even bother to ask what they were talking about; they were plotting a way to take revenge. They looked more serious than usual this time. She could hardly blame them for that, though. Shed like to get her revenge on their teacher herself.

"Sakura! Come over her for a minuet! We need your help for this one!

Sakura contemplated this.  
"But… What if Kakashi-Sensei gets really mad this time?"  
'_Hell yeah! This is going to be great! Severs that perverted Cyclops right for leaving us with this drunk! I cannot wait! Revenge!'_

"Who cares? All I have to do is use my sexy technique on him and he'll pass out like the old man!"  
"Actually, he'll probably stalk you." Sakura clarified.

Naruto's face paled as Sasuke snickered.  
"See? This is why we need your brain cells! Come on, we all know you really want to. Besides, it involves the permanent removal of that porn book!"Sakura did not need any more convincing after Naruto disclosed that particular shred of information.

Thirty minuets later Kakashi arrived to find three smirking gremlins instead of three glaring ones and one had reached into his kunai pouch and covered his beloved orange book protectively.

* * *

"Kakashi-Sensei, do they have ninjas in land of wave?" Sakura asked. The Jonin answered but Naruto was too busy admiring the scenery to listen. He had never been out of the village before, so this was a new experience for him. He had already seen three different birds that he had never even heard of. The stones, the plants, the trees, everything was completely new to him.

Sasuke was equally distracted. He had been outside the village before but never to this particular area; and soon the two boys were engaged in a contest to see who cold spot the most of the new animals. Sakura was listening intently to Kakashi's explanation of country size and power in relation to ninja villages.

Had they been paying more attention they would have noticed the puddle, but they was too absorbed in the new information and surroundings.

Sakura screamed when the spiked chain that suddenly surrounded their teacher tore through him, and the Jonin was ripped into pieces. Sasuke and Naruto whirled to see two mist ninjas standing where there had previously been an innocent-looking puddle

- - - - - - - - - -

The three Genin stared at the sliced lump of wood laying where they had seen their teacher being ripped to shreds, and back to the smiling Jonin.

"If you're going to die stay that way!" Sakura yelled, obviously irritated.  
"And here I thought you would be glad to see me." Kakashi pretended to sound wounded.  
"We could have died! I bet you were in a tree reading that damn porn book somewhere!"

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't, but I would have intervened if the situation deemed it necessary. I didn't need to though, did I? You handled the situation better than I expected. However, I did not expect Naruto to freeze up like- Oi! Stop that!"  
"I'm bleeding the poison out Cyclops!" Naruto replied, forcing the kunai further into the back of his hand.  
There was a nauseating crack as the kunai hit bone.

"Naruto! You're going to bleed to death if you keep digging your kunai in like that!" Sasuke yelled, lunging forward and ripping the kunai from his friend's hand. His eyes widened when he saw the size of the wound and the blood spurting from it. He had been joking originally, but maybe his friend _really would_ bleed to death...  
Sakura arrived at the same time holding onto her med-kit. She pulled some liquid for cleaning wounds antiseptic cream cotton wool and a bandage from the small pouch and grabbed the blondes hand from Sasuke to examine it. She did not know any medical techniques but her mother had insisted she learn basic first aid.

Seeing his two slightly sane students had things under control, Kakashi turned on their client with a much less friendly expression than before.  
"Now then Mr Tazuna, why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

- - - - - - - - - -

"If you hadn't rammed a kunai into your hand it would have been this bad!" she scolded the blonde, who rubbed the back of his head with his free hand sheepishly.  
"This is going to need stitch-" Sakura's eyes widened. A thin steam was rising from her team-mate's hand, and the muscle and flesh below the broken skin was beginning to knit it back together. She and Sasuke watched incredulously as the top layer of flesh glued together before the top layer of skin reformed itself.

"Kakashi-Sensei! There's something weird happening to Naruto!" Sakura yelled to the Jonin, who had been talking to their client. He came over and looked down at Naruto's hand. It looked as good as new.

"I don't see anything wrong with it..." he informed her.  
"Look!" Sasuke yelled. He grabbed the kunai Naruto had been using and lightly sliced open the skin that had just healed. Within seconds, the cut had healed amongst the strange steam that had appeared before.

"Ah..."  
Sakura and Sasuke had their eyes glued to him waiting for an explanation.

"That is a bit odd."  
'_If you're not going to say anything useful don't say anything at all'_ Sakura screed at the man, inside her head of course.  
Sasuke glared at him.

Naruto stared at his hand, and Sasuke noticed he had not spoken a word since the first wound had closed.  
He had that strange serious aura on; the one that he usually wore for a few hours if someone mentioned his mother unnecessarily. He was also being unnaturally calm in a situation that had caused even him to freak out a little bit.

"Kakashi-Sensei" his two team-mates and heir teacher perked up at the sound of his voice. "Is this because of… well… that… _thing?_" he asked, placing a certain amount of disgust and hatred on the word 'thing'.

Sasuke gave Naruto a suspicious look.  
'_What 'thing'? What is he talking about? Is this what Ino was talking about with Mizuki?'_There was silence as Naruto waited for an answer. Sakura looked between Sasuke and Naruto worriedly.  
Sasuke was giving the blonde an unusually analytical look, which Naruto was ignoring.

"…_There are also a lot of things Naruto doesn't tell us, and were his friends…"_Sakura realised that this was one of those things.  
'_Sasuke doesn't know, and Naruto doesn't want to tell…Why do I get a bad feeling about this whole thing? That healing wasn't normal…'_

"That's… probably the correct assumption Naruto." Kakashi said, unusually solemnly. Naruto growled then. A low, animalistic growl that scared Sakura a little bit. Sasuke flinched, but the lack of surprise told her that he had heard this noise before. The flinch told her he liked it just as much as she did.

"I wouldn't worry Naruto; it's not a threat to anyone. It's actually quite beneficial if you think about it!" Kakashi said jovially _'for the moment at any rate…'_

Naruto noticeably perked up at that.  
"I guess you have a point there Kakashi-Sensei! So? What's happening? Are we still going to wave?" he asked, jumping up and down in excitement. Sakura was about to let out a sigh of relief until she saw Sasuke's face. It was a mixture of worry and anger.

"What is that idiot hiding _now?_" he mumbled to himself.

'_I never realised Naruto was such a good actor…'_ Sakura though to herself despondently. Had she not seen the look on Sasuke's face, she really would have though everything was going to be fine. Sakura realised she had a long way to go before she still had a long way to go before she could say she understood her blonde team-mate.

* * *

Sasuke moved up to Naruto as they walked along the dirt road. They were heading for a boat that would take them across the mangrove swamps to Tazuna's village, and had been walking for five hours. Since the incident in the forest earlier, Naruto had been uncharacteristically subdued.

"what's wrong with you?" he asked quietly. He got that feeling that Kakashi would try to separate them if he overheard him questioning his friend over the events earlier. He noticed a slight pause in Naruto step - barley half a second - before he continued to plod down the dirt road.

"Nothings wrong bastard, I'm fine" Naruto grinned at him. Sasuke clenched his fist in an effort to control himself. He was beginning to get angry. Naruto had been hiding too many things from him lately. He only knew that Mizuki was behind this because Shikamaru had repeated what Ino had told him. When was the blonde going to learn that he could rely on other people to help him?!

"That's a lie. You think I didn't hear you talking to Kakashi earlier? I am not stupid Naruto! You are hiding something! Again!" Sasuke did not realise his voice had been growing steadily louder until he was shouting at the blonde.

"So what? I'm allowed to have my secrets aren't I?" Naruto asked, slightly waspishly. Sasuke glared at him.  
"Naruto, that wasn't normal! That sort of healing is not possible even with a bloodline limit! Ino would clobber you into the dirt if she found out about this; and believe me, she will find out!" he yelled, loud enough to catch Sakura's attention. If Kakashi had noticed, he was waiting either until they calmed down, or until he needed to intervene.

"Don't bring Ino into this Sasuke! And you have no right to tell her _or_ Shikamaru anything! It's none of your business!" Naruto yelled back. They had stopped ahead of their companions and were now arguing in the middle of the road.

"None of my business? Idiot! You are my best friend, even if I never say it! You know that! Of course it's my business if something weird is going on with you! This is because of Mizuki isn't it? This is to do with what he told you isn't it?!"

"I already told you, it is none of your business Sasuke! So drop it, I am not going to tell you! How the fuck do you know Mizuki said anything to me anyway? Because I sure as hell didn't tell you anything!"

"Hey, stop it you two! This is no time for arguing!" Sakura, who had been watching their exchange from a distance worriedly, ran up to both boys, standing between them with a hand on each boy's chest. "We have a job to do! Besides, arguing isn't going to sol-" she let out a small yelp as both boys pushed her out of the way, landing on the ground with an unceremonious thud. Kakashi looked up and narrowed his visible eye.

"Ino told Shikamaru, he knew you were leaving things out and that she'd know more than you'd tell us. So tell me, what the fuck did he tell you to make you stop trusting your friends?!"  
"For fucks sake! How many times do I have to say it Sasuke? IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Sasuke snapped.

He lunged towards the boy, bringing his fist towards the boys face. There was a crack as Naruto's nose broke from the impact. Naruto stared at him for a moment before attacking himself. He aimed, as Sasuke had, for the face with his own fist. Sasuke blocked the fist easily, and began to prepare his own attack before Naruto's foot collided with his chin. He was sent flying backwards into the bushes, rousing a small white rabbit from it hiding place.

Sasuke glared at Naruto and rushed towards him after regaining his footing. Naruto followed suit, running towards Sasuke from his standing place. They were about to exchange blows when Kakashi appeared between them, grabbing handfuls of black and blonde hair.

"Cut it out! This is not time for your squabbles! We are on a mission! You two are giving our client a bad impression of Konoha ninja. You even attacked your own team-mate when she tried to intervene! I was under the impression you knew better than that!" Kakashi spoke angrily. He was not yelling, but he was louder than he normally was so it qualified as Kakashi's version of yelling. It made both Naruto and Sasuke feel a little bit afraid of him - for the first time since becoming Genin - and they made the wise decision to stop struggling against his handhold on their heads.

"Naruto, I know this is a delicate subject for you, but you can't hide it forever. No matter how much you don't want to, you will have to tell Sasuke and your other friends about this effectually." Kakashi said, looking the boy squarely in the eye.

He then turned to his black-haired student.  
"Sasuke, I know you're worried and you have every right to be but you can't force Naruto to tell you something he isn't ready to tell you yet."

He released his hold on the now sheepish-looking boys.  
"I don't care what you say to each other as long as it doesn't interfere with the mission, but go apologize to Sakura."

The two boys nodded. Naruto ran over to the girl and bowed low several times frantically apologizing, asking if she had been hurt.  
She gave him a weak little laugh, and said she was fine - her butt was a little sore though. Naruto yelled with joy when he heard her swear for the first time. Sakura pummelled him before fishing her med-kit out to help fix his nose.

Sasuke walked over and watched as she replaced the bone in, very roughly, its original position. There was a crackling noise as the bone began to knit itself together. All other bruises and scratches had long since disappeared, but even with his warped healing bone would take longer too fix. Sakura did her best to make a sort of cast to keep the bone in place with some sticks, cotton wool, and a bandage holing the whole thing in place.

When she was finished, Sasuke also gave her a mall mumbled apology. It was not quite as exuberant as Naruto's had been but it was just as sincere. He knew Sakura had only wanted them to stop fighting like that. Normally their fights were challenges, spars, or just for having a bit of fun in general. They had been having a very rare, full-blown argument.

Sasuke felt a bit sick at the thought. He should not have let his temper get the better of him like that. Yes, he was frustrated with the blonde - and worried, no matter how much he would deny such a thing openly - but that was no excuse. Kakashi was right; he should not have forced Naruto to tell him. Much less broken his nose.

He wondered if he should go apologize to the boy now walking next to Sakura when the faint sound of weapon being thrown reached his ears. His eyes widened when Kakashi pulled Sakura and Mr Tazuna to the ground.

A giant sword was spinning in their direction.  
In Naruto's direction.  
Sasuke lunged at the blonde and pulled him to the ground just in time to avoid the giant sword, which spun in the air and returned like a boomerang to the hand of a tall figure standing on a tree branch.

Naruto stared at the man, then at Sasuke who still had one arm on his back, forcing him onto the ground.  
There was silence for what seemed like a long time to both boys until Naruto broke it whit a whisper:

"Thanks, bastard." he muttered, not meeting Sasuke's gaze.  
"Your welcome, idiot"

* * *

**_Yaay. New chapter up.  
Updates are going to be slightly buggered again since im back in college, and i wrote most of these chapters during my holidays, but i'll do my best to update now and then. im still several chappies ahead so it should work out. Should. Probably. Maybe. With any luck...  
Reveiw and i'll give yaoi/cookies to those who want it._**

Natarii.  
xxx


	8. Revelations and Confrontations

_**I don't own Naruto.  
If I did, Mandarin would have been chatting to Naruto last chappie instead of Sasuchi running around with the Raikage.**_

* * *

Sasuke sat on the roof of Tazuna's house listening to Kakashi talk to the old man's grandson. Ever since the argument he and Naruto had had on the road, the atmosphere around them had been tense. Like walking on thin glass. Luckily, it had not been a problem during the fight against Zabuza, and their teamwork had been flawless as usual. They had even managed to save Kakashi thanks to Naruto's quick thinking.

But now that the fighting was over, things had gone back to being awkward.

It was a nightmare when they went into the woods to train everyday, since Sakura had long since completed the exercise (not to mention the water walking exercise Kakashi had taught her) and he and Naruto still struggled to climb five feet up the trees.

Apparentley Naruto had felt the same, since he had completely blown his head off at Inari. Poor kid had not known what hit him at all. Thankfully, Kakashi was now talking to him, trying to explain why Naruto had reacted so badly. Sasuke had realised a prime opportunity and snuck out here, closely followed by Sakura.

"…seeing you whining and crying like that made him frustrated. Most of our village, bar a select few including this team, hates him for reasons he did not even know about until recently, and his mother disappeared when he was three years old. I have not seen him cry once since then. I doubt Sasuke has either, and they're more like family than friends even if they aren't getting along at the moment…"

_'Reasons he didn't know about? Does that mean Mizuki told him why everyone hates him so much?'_ Sasuke wondered briefly, before going back to eavesdropping on the Jonin's conversation.

"…Despite that he still worked together with him when we ran into a man sent to kill your grandpa. He has never given up on trying to make the best of a bad situation, so when you started complaining and crying he probably felt like you were telling him everything he spent his life doing was worthless."

There was a mumble from Inari and Kakashi smiled at him. The boy got to his feet and ran back inside the house, more cheerful than when he came outside. Sasuke was about to follow the boy inside when a new figure emerged from the doorway below him and his pink-haired team-mate.

"You didn't have to tell him all that you know." Naruto grumbled, sitting down next to Kakashi. "I was going to apologize once I calmed down."

"I know, but I think he needed to learn he wasn't the only one with problems all the same." there was strange not-quite-comfortable but not-quite-awkward silence for a long time until Naruto spoke again.

"How did you know all that?" he asked quietly. Sasuke had to strain his ears to catch the second part of Naruto's sentence. "How did you know that I haven't cried since my Mom went missing?"

Kakashi paused for a moment, pondering what he could safely tell his student.

"I babysat you for your mother a lot before she left, since I knew her so well. She did not trust many people to look after you when she was working because of the Kyuubi, so I found myself volunteering often. After she… later on I did the same for Inochi once or twice, you were too young to remember very well though."

* * *

Sasuke's eyes widened when Kakashi said that, but what really caught his attention was the word 'Kyuubi'

'_What does the Kyuubi have to do with Naruto? Why would the villagers hate him because of that?'_ he wondered. A glance at Sakura's pensive face told him she was probably thinking the same thing.

Naruto's eyes widened as much as Sasuke's.

"y-you knew her?" he asked, clearly dumbfounded.  
"Very well. She would be very proud of your swearing and ramen-converting."

Naruto smiled a real smile then, one Sasuke had not seen for a long time. He was about to climb down when Sakura tapped his arm. He would have ignored her had it not been for the look on her face that told him she had probably figured something out.

"What?" he said, barley whispering to avoid being overheard.  
"I was thinking about what Kakashi said and…" she took on a fearful look, obviously worried about his reaction. Not surprising considering his previous reactions to her thoughts about Naruto.

"It's fine, just tell me" he said, trusting her to be using her brain this time. If there was on thing he trusted about Sakura, it was her brain. He had learned during all those D-Ranks that she could be almost as perceptive as Shikamaru when she put her mind to it.

"I… I think that… the Kyuubi is sealed inside Naruto!" she said, deadly serious. Sasuke wanted to rip her head of for her stupidity, but he knew she would not say something like that now without good reason.

"Explain." he ordered.  
Sakura took a deep breath before launching into a long speech.

"When the Kyuubi was killed, no information was released to suggest how the Fourth Hokage killed it. Nothing available to Genins at any rate. No statistics, no analysis of his technique, nothing. It is completely unheard of, since the academy uses the village's past actions and problems to teach us how to avoid making the same mistakes.

"We would normally have taken the information and come up with ideas as to how the Kyuubi could have been stopped without sacrificing our life to do so, but we were just told he sacrificed his life to defeat it."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, she had a point. But that alone was not enough.  
Apparently, Sakura knew that too since she continued talking;

"Second point; the fact the fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to defeat it. That's an odd way to say the Kyuubi killed him isn't it? Why not just say 'the fourth Hokage was killed during the battle in which he defeated the Kyuubi'? Or that he died from wounds sustained in the battle? We were given no details as to how he actually died.

"Another point is that many techniques that require self-sacrifice are sealing techniques, or life-transfer medical techniques. There are virtually no ninja techniques or physical techniques that demand the same price. There are hundreds that are a danger to the user's life, but how many actually demand a person's life force in exchange for their use? If you put all that together then…"

"it doesn't seem impossible…" sasuke finished ominously.  
Sakura nodded.

"…I think… we need to listen a little more before we start making accusations." Sasuke said, after several minuets. Sakura nodded and they turned back to Kakashi and Naruto. They were still discussing the blonde's mother, but Sasuke could tell they were quickly exhausting the subject. He was proven right when another long silence between the two. Until Naruto broke it.

"Kakashi-Sensei…" Naruto began, in a horribly serious tone. "Do you know why… I mean… why me?" he asked, pulling his knees up to his chest. Kakashi looked at him mystified for a few moments before something clicked.  
"Why was the Kyuubi sealed inside of you, you mean?" He asked.

Sasuke and Sakura both froze.

"I don't really know. It is true the Fourth Hokage was my teacher, and we were close but… I never did understand why he made that particular choice..." he finished, sounding as if there was more to the answer than what he was telling Naruto and the two eavesdroppers with words. Naruto pondered this before asking another question.

"Do you think I'll ever be able to tell them? My friends I mean…?" Kakashi said nothing for several moments until he said something Sasuke had secretly been afraid of since taking his position on the roof with Sakura.

"I think they already know Naruto…" Naruto looked perplexed before Kakashi turned his head towards their hiding place. "…Isn't that right, Sasuke? Sakura?" he asked them.

* * *

"What do we do?!" Sakura breathed.  
"I guess… we don't have a choice. He knew we were her from the beginning." Sasuke growled angrily.

"You mean…?"  
"Yeah, he said all of that on purpose. He wanted us to find out."  
"That hypocrite!! He said not to push him not three days ago!" she hissed angrily.

They both took a deep breath and jumped down from the roof and stood near their teammate and their teacher.

Sasuke made sure to keep a good distance from Naruto. Not because he was afraid of him now, that was completely preposterous, but because he knew Naruto would be. Naruto was afraid of his reaction, that was the reason he had never told him when he finally found out (that explained why he'd been so rattled when he asked what Mizuki had told him).

Naruto still had not looked at him, he could not even see his face, but he could tell from the colour of his hand that his face was very pale. He was surprised he was not shaking, but then again, Naruto was probably too shocked for that.

"So? When did you figure it out Sakura?" Kakashi asked lazily. Sakura jumped at the mention of her name.

"W-when you said Naruto's mother didn't trust anyone to look after him because of the Kyuubi, it got me thinking about all the odd things about the Kyuubi attack, what we were never told about it and…" she admitted in a small voice. "I-I thought I was just being overly suspicious until you actually said it"

"As expected from team seven's bookworm. Ever observant of the fine details." Kakashi commented, as if he had been giving her a written test of some sort. A problem solving exercise.

Sasuke took a step towards Naruto, who whirled to face him when the sound reached his ears. He looked terrified. Something Sasuke had never seen on his face before. When they had been attacked by all those kunai, there had been a good amount of fear on Naruto's face, but not outright terror.

This was the second time Sasuke wanted to strangle his teacher for stepping on inappropriate landmines.

He took another step towards him, and Naruto took a step back.  
"Naruto…" he took another step forward, and Naruto took another step away from him.  
Then another. Then two more.  
Then he ran.

* * *

Orochimaru glared at his pathetic campfire.  
For all his genius, he could never make a decent campfire. He still did not know why. Anko had often teased him about it when he was training her. He'd yelled at her for that back then but right new he would be willing to beg her to make a decent campfire for him.

After a lot of coaxing, wheedled, pleading, begging and threatening, Orochimaru had a fire substantial enough to cook a rabbit. He turned away cautiously; half thinking the fire would go out while his back was turned just to spite him, and picked up the rabbit he had prepared earlier.

He gave the fire a warning glare as he set the rabbit ontop of the two ples tha would keep the skereed animal abover the fire, roasting it. Once completed he turned to his pile of fire wood. He wasn't taking any chances with going looking for wood now. The fire would probably go out while he was looking for more wood; hence the reason he already had some.

'_Anko would laugh her nonexistent balls of if she saw me being this paranoid because of campfire…' _

As he added the branches to the fire his eye causht something that was not-branch-like in amongst his kindling. He moved aside several branches and pulled out the skin of a white snake. He gave it a wide eyed look for a moment, it was only the second one he had seen in all his years.

'_I wonder if this is a sign of some kind…?' _he speculated. the last time he found the skin of a white snake, it had been the day before he received the news of his parents death. Was this also an indicator of what was to come?

'…_and if it is, is it a good sign or… something else?'_

* * *

"Naruto, wait!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto ignored him and continued to run in the direction of the woods they had been training earlier. Sasuke swore and chased after the blond. Sakura got up to follow him, but before leaving, she turned a glare on her teacher.

"If you hadn't butted in this wouldn't have happened!" she yelled at him. "You should have just let him tell us when he was ready to like you said to Sasuke!! If he doesn't talk to us when we catch up to him, I'm blaming you Kakashi-Sensei!! " she walked off angrily, pausing once to inform him that if he thought she was mad then Sasuke would be beside himself with rage.

She slammed the door behind her and ran after her team-mates, calling both their names.  
Kakashi was unsurprised by her reaction, and honestly, he was slightly worried about what Sasuke was going to do to him. However, if he had left it to Naruto the boy would have carried the secret to the grave if he had his way. The quicker he got used to the idea of sharing it, the easier it would be to tell other people.

- - - - - - - - - -

"NARUTO WAIT GOD DAMN IT!" Sasuke yelled to the blonde several meters ahead of him. He cursed Naruto's insane amount of stamina. They had been walking up trees all day and he wasn't even tired! It was so unfair!

- - - - - - - - - -

Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Truthfully, he was exhausted, but the prospect of facing Sakura or Sasuke (especially Sasuke) seemed very daunting right now. He would rather go one on one with Zabuza _and_ Itachi than talk to either of his teammates at the moment.

Not to mention his bloody hypocrite perverted cyclopic teacher! He was going to kill Kakashi the moment he saw him!!

- - - - - - - - - -

Sakura wondered how her teammates could run so fast when they had been half-dead from exhaustion only hours earlier. Especially Sasuke, he was slow to recover from injuries or chakra exhaustion. It had taken almost a month for his thumb to heal after he accidentally fractured it with a hammer on a D-Rank.

Luckily, she had completed all the training Kakashi had given her and had plenty of stamina left. It was a good thing too, since if it were a normal day she would barley be able to keep up with either of the two boys.

It soon occurred to her that, if they wanted to talk to Naruto, they would have to stop him running. That was obviously not going to be happening anytime soon, so they would have to take drastic measures. She wracked her brains for something that would make Naruto stop running.

'_He wont stop running even if hell freezes over!'_ she wailed mentally. After hearing her own thoughts, she shook them aside. There had to be something that would stun Naruto long enough for them to catch up with him…

But the only things that had ever made him stop doing something he was concentrating on were Ramen, Sasuke, Ino and Shikamaru. Ino and Shikamaru were distinctively absent, Sasuke was half the problem (herself being the other half), and Sakura doubted ramen would serve to be a suitable distraction considering the circumstances.

Unless Ino or Shikamaru magically appeared from nowhere then…

"That's it!" she shrieked.

She began to gather her chakra as she formed the hand seals.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sasuke was beginning to tire. He could barley keep up to his current speed that kept him several meters behind Naruto, let alone speed up enough to catch up to him.  
"NARUTO WAIT!" he yelled in a last ditch attempt to get the boy to at least slow down.

Much to his surprise, it actually worked.  
Naruto stopped in his tracks immediately, and as sasuke closed in he could hear the blonde mumbling to himself. Once he reached touching distance of his friend, Naruto stood frozen in shock, mouth agape.

Sasuke frowned. What on earth was he doing? This was no time for jokes!  
"Naruto…" he said in a calm manner. Naruto didn't seem to even recognise his presence.

He waved a hand in front of the blonde's face. Still Naruto ignored him.  
"What on earth is wrong with him now?" he grumbled to himself with frustration.

"It worked? It worked! Hell yeah!" came a joyous yell of triumph from behind the two boys. Sasuke turned around to see Sakura jogging up to the two of them.  
"What do you mean it worked?" he asked, mystified. The grin she gave him was the biggest he had ever seen on her face, and for some reason, the scariest.

"I figured he wasn't going to talk to us unless we could catch up to him, and that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon, I made a visual illusion to… distract him." she snickered. Sasuke shivered and made a mental note to be a bit gentler when he refused her invitations for dinner in the future. She didn't ask as much as she used to but she hadn't stopped completely, and that snicker scared him.

"Grab hold of him tight." she instructed, taking hold of one of Naruto's arms "if he runs away again all that effort will have been for nothing." Sasuke nodded in agreement and took hold of the opposite arm.

"brace yourself, I'm going to dispel the illusion now" Sakura warned. Sasuke took a firmer hold onto Naruto's arm and took hold of his shoulder as Sakura pulsed some of her own chakra into the blonde's body.

* * *

Naruto blinked and looked around for several moments before he exploded.

"Bastard, what the hell did you do?! What the heck was that?!!" he yelled. Sasuke would have covered his ears had the blonde not been struggling against the grip of his two team-mates.

"Don't look at me; I had nothing to do with it!" Sasuke yelled in his own defence. "It was all Sakura's idea!" he nodded towards the pink haired girl.

Naruto stopped struggling and turned to the pink haired girl in shock.  
"y-you thought that up?!" he yelled in outrage, a blush staining his entire face.

She smiled innocently and Sasuke shivered, having caught a glimpse of her wicked side earlier. Judging by the blush on Naruto's face, she had been merciless in whatever she had shown him.

'_Note to self: do not piss of Sakura.'_

"So, are you going to stop running away or do we have to tie you up to get you to talk to us? I'll be happy to make some more illusions if you wa-"  
"No! No more illusions! I won't run away!" Naruto replied very quickly. Sasuke felt a pang of sympathy for his friend.  
He dreaded to think what Sakura had shown him.

"you promise?" Sasuke asked, holding back a smirk. Naruto wouldn't be able to run off after he promised not to. Naruto gave him an 'I-hate-your-manipulation-of-my-morals' glare before her reluctantly grumbled out a small: "I promise, bastard."

"Great!" Sakura smiled cheerfully, making both Naruto and Sasuke want run and hide in the cave of an earth country giant grizzly. "Now sit down and we'll have a nice long chat!" she turned her gaze to Naruto who gulped. They all sat down on the forest floor in a circle, and Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"Alright, this time you aren't leaving anything out. You are going to spill every gory, tear jerking detail or so help me I will tell Shikamaru it was you who accidentally set his Shogi board on fire!" Naruto paled, but still managed to look outraged at the same time.

"But that was you!"  
"Shikamaru dosen't know that though, does he?"  
"BASTARD!"  
"Just start at the beginning."

"what's the point? You know what the fourth did…" Naruto grumbled, pointedly avoiding the subject directly.  
"if that was true, we wouldn't have chased you like that" Sakura argued. Naruto sighed in frustration and flicked his eyes between the two of them, as if he were waiting for them to jump him or something equally idiotic.

"Fine. Short version; fourth could not kill the Kyuubi so he used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and two Four Symbols Seals to form an Eight Trigrams Sealing Style to stick the Kyuubi inside me instead. Mizuki tricked me into stealing the forbidden scroll and told me when he went all crazy villain on Iruka and me. End of story." his mouth rattled robotically.

Sasuke was surprised Naruto knew the names of the seals. Then again, the Hokage must have told him.  
But why bother?

"Because I like sealing techniques bastard. You already know that." Sasuke slapped a hand to his forehad. Of course, how had he forgotten that? It was one of the few things Naruto had _consitentley_ beaten him at back in the academy.

Even if he had language problems, be was better with the intricate workings of seals thanks to a less linear mind. Better still, the more chakra you used the better they worked or the longer they lasted, and they did not require a smidgen of superior chakra control.  
They were perfect for Naruto.

"That still doesn't explain why you ran off like that though…" Sakura interrupted his thoughts with the pivotal question. Naruto flinched when she said that.

"T-That… I… Err…" he flicked his eyes between the two of them again. Sasuke wanted to clobber him for acting like the deer they accidentally covered with blue paint once in the Nara forest (that thing _still_ would not come near them). Since when did Naruto act like a frightened rabbit around him…?

Sasuke felt several cogs click into place.  
"You absolute moron. You brainless, dim-witted, ridiculously unintelligent idiot" he growled slightly angrily, his Uchiha-Glare working at full power for once.

'_Just call him an idiot and be done with it and then get on with the explanation moron!'_ Sakura thought to herself behind her worried expression. Naruto gulped under Sasuke's glare, it reminded him of a very angry Mikoto Uchiha (no, not Fugaku, Mikoto. Mi-ko-to).

"You thought we'd turn on you, didn't you?!" Sasuke yelled angrily. "How could you even think something like that?! Were your team-mates! You might as well live with me for the amount of time you spend at my house! You really _did_ live with Ino, and you know Shikamaru would offer you a place with him if you asked! How could you think we'd turn our backs on you?" he all but screamed at Naruto.

Naruto let him rage before levelling him a very calm gaze. Un-naturally calm for Naruto.

"Sasuke, do you remember that mission to paint that house near the west gate?" Sasuke's mind briefly gave him a recollection of the event, and he nodded to indicate this fact.

"Do you remember what happened once that woman found out my name?" how could he forget? She'd practically thrown Naruto out of the house and probably would have, had Kakashi had not intervened…

For some reason he felt like he should be having an epiphany here. A glance to Sakura's wide-eyed understanding told him she had already done so. Sasuke hated epiphanies… he'd never been very successful with them. He gave Naruto a frustrated glance that said 'I-don't-do-these- epiphany-things-so-just-keep-talking'

"if she hadn't found out who I was, and therefore what was inside me, she would have treated me like you and Sakura. I'm all to aware of how much the villagers hate me. Why on earth would I risk the only people who didn't see me as the… as that _thing_ turning on me, and doing the exact same thing?"

'…_ah. That would be the epiphany'_ Sasuke thought to himself. Now that he fully understood Naruto's course of thought (for the moment at any rate… who knew how long it would last?) he could not blame him for running off like that.

Sasuke smirked.  
"Well, the stupid fox can't be all that amazing if you still can't tell illusions from reality. You'd think it'd make you smarter but…" he trailed off.  
Moments later Naruto lunged.

"You bastard! I'd like to see you try to dispel Ino when she's that mad! What if she had been real? She'd feed me to spike for lunch!" he yelled, shaking Sasuke like a rag doll.  
"Ino?" Sasuke asked puzzled.

Naruto realised what he had just said, and bolted for the house he had just been running from. Sasuke chased after him demanding an explanation; Sakura cackling evilly as she followed them at a steadier pace.

* * *

"Ahh! That hit the spot! Not quite as good as old-man Teuchi's but still good!" A red haired woman patted her stomach happily.  
Jiraiya gave her a withering.

"That's all you care about isn't it?" he asked.  
"When I'm hungry" Jiraiya felt like thunking his head onto the table.  
This woman was impossible. This was supposed to be a serious conversation and all she cared about was ramen!

"Kushina, I'm trying to tell you something important here! This could mean trouble for Naruto if we don't do something!" her head jerked up, her serious frown on her face.  
"What?!"

"Deidara, I got a lead on him. He has joined some criminal organization made up of S-Rank missing ninja's. I believe Zetsu is one of them too. Kushina hissed at the name of the plant-man.

"He joined the same organization as that backstabber?! Where is he? I'll go knock some sense into the idiot!" she fumed, getting up from the table, apparently intending to do as she had just stated.

"Calm down! You cannot get him to come around without evidence Kushina! You know that!" Kushina stared for a moment and sank back into her seat.  
"Of course I know you nitwit. It just… he is his brother! He shouldn't be doing this!"  
"Isn't that the reason though? Because they were brothers? Not just normal ones either, twins. Even if the didn't look alike they were a bit different than normal siblings…"  
"I know that! Shut up you great baboon!"  
"Will you stop calling me a bab-"

"Aunty Kushina!!" they both turned to the door of the restaurant.

A girl with hair as bright as Kushina's, though a slightly different shade, stood in the doorway of the small restaurant. She collapsed in the seat next to her aunt, tired from running, and stole a glug of whatever Kushina had been drinking.

Jiraiya waited for several minuets for the girl to continue. Instead, she poured over the menu, looking for something to eat herself.  
Eventually, even Kushina got a little tired of waiting.

"Well? What do you want Karin?" Karin gave her a blank stare for a while, before something clicked.  
"oh yeah! Mum sent me to tell you something!" she informed them before promptly turning back to the menu again.

"And? What was it?" Jiraiya asked through gritted teeth.  
"There's some weird man with a massive ponytail and a giant hedgehog looking for the baboon." Karin replied absentley.

A look of shock graced Kushina's face, and Jiraiya let out a sigh of frustration crossed with relief. Karin looked between the two of them puzzled.

"What? Is this guy bad news or something?" she asked.  
"No, but I doubt he's bringing any sort of good news with him." Kushina grumbled. "Let's go Karin; we're leaving once we find Rin."  
"But I just ordered my food!" Karin objected.

"No buts Karin! Now lets go" Kushina said, rising from the table. Karin reluctantly followed suit and trailed after her aunt forlornly as she headed for the door.  
"Until next time Jiraiya." Kushina said as she walked out of the restaurant.  
"bye baboon." Karin added, with much less enthusiasm than she normally had - a side effect of being denied her food.

Jiraiya sighed and fished some money out of his pocket. After paying for the food, he too walked out of the door. He headed of the center of town and waited for perhaps half an hour before he caught sight of Inochi Yamanaka, and Spike the Hedgehog.

* * *

Sakura snarled in frustration at the mist obscuring her vision. She'd tried a simple blowing techniqe taught at the academy for removing such obstacles but did it work? Of course not. She'd originaly thought this was because it was being used by a Jonin and had an elemental nature, but the techniques should have still worked somewhat. Something gnawed at her that she should know how to get rid of this… this… stuff.

She tried batting and wafting the fog away again but it stayed in the same place as before. Exactly the same spot… _'that's kind of freaky, shouldn't it move just a little bit?' _frowning, Sakura waved her hand through the strange mist again. Once again, nothing moved to indicate her hand had passed through the tiny molecules of water.

'_now that I pay close attention, it dosent even feel like mist.' _she thought, noticing the strange feel of the vapour for the first time._ 'Its not all thick and damp… its like its not even there…'  
_Sakura's eyes widened. She immediately formed a dispelling seal and pushed as much chakra into the seal as she could.  
"DISPEL!!" She cried.

Almost immediately, the fog disappeared, just in time to see Tazuna disappeared from Kakashi's side. She whirled round in time to see Tazuna about to bring his huge sword down on the old man behind her. She pulled him to one side moments before the blade swung down. It landed on the concrete surface of the bridge with a crunching noise. Sakura pulled out two kunai as Zabuza pulled the blade from the ground and rushed towards them.

"Stay behind me Mr Tazuna!" she ordered.

Zabuza swung his sword at her, aiming for her left side. She jammed both kunai in front of the sword, stalling it long enough for Kakashi to reach them.

"Good work Sakura, I didn't expect you'd be able to dispell the illusion but you proved me wrong. If we make it out of this, I'll teach you a few illusions when we get back to Konoha" he grinned at her for a moment behind his mask. "Get Mr Tazuna out of the way, and go watch the boys. I don't think we can help but…"

"I'm on my way Kakashi-Sensei!" she replied, pulling Tazuna away from the intense battle that had just started between the two Jonins. She looked towards the dome of icy mirrors, and listened. She could hear the yells from her team mates all the way down here, at least a hundred meters away, if not more. What was happening to them? Whatever it was, it sounded painful…

She did not realise she had been trembling until Tazuna took hold of her hand.  
"Let's go check on your friends. We can't do much but we can at least make sure there alright can't we?" he said, reassuringly. She grasped his larger hand tightly and they set off at a jog towards the dome of ice.

* * *

Naruto stared at Sasuke; the boy stood in front of him riddled with senbon. He rushed forward to catch him as Sasuke fell backwards. Naruto could not tell how bad Sasuke's injuries were, but he knew they were bad. He seemed to be having trouble breathing and it was taking all his effort to stay awake…

"Sasuke! What did you that for you stupid crazy bastard?!" Naruto yelled, pulling Sasuke's face closer to his own by hoisting his shoulders up of the concrete.  
"Because my body moved… on its own! Why do you think… I did, moron?" Sasuke choked out, coughing up a small amount of blood. Naruto's eyes widened. He had to get them out quick!

"Shut up bottom-boy! I'll get us out so don't you dare fall asleep or anything!" Naruto ordered. Sasuke gave a strained laugh as he fought not to fall into unconsciousness or worse.  
"It's too late for that fishcake… I'm done for… just make sure you…" Sasuke's eyes rolled back in his head as his eyelids closed. His body slumped in Naruto arms.

"Sasuke?" Naruto shook the black haired boy's body a little. "Sasuke…?" when he received no answer, the tears that had readied themselves for action should the worst scenario occur exploded from his eyes. He buried his head in Sasuke's chest for a few brief moments.

"I see… he was important to you..." the boy who had revealed himself to be the not-a-girl from the forest noted, watching Naruto grieve. "I am truly sorry, I did not wish to kill him, but I will do what I must to fulfil lord Zabuza's mission" he continued. Haku pulled out ten more senbon in preparation. Naruto had not moved from his position since Sasuke had fallen, and Haku used this to his advantage.

"I'm sorry, but I will protect zabu-" Haku was stopped mid sentence when his senbon dissolved upon reaching a few inches of Naruto's body.

Naruto raised his head revealing scarlet coloured eyes. The colour was different to that in the other boys eyes, it was less subdued, brighter, and seemed to be created from a feeling of malice, hatred, and countless other emotions that all equated to the same thing; pure evil.

The chakra that rolled off the boy in waves bit at his skin and clawed at his eyes ferociously, as he squinted (in the fear of his eyes being destroyed by the stinging chakra) he could see a faint red tinge in the air toxified by the strange energy.

Naruto couched on all fours like an animal, his hair appeared shaggier from the fiction of the buzzing chakra surrounding him. The strange markings on his face seemed to have grown as had his canines elongated into fangs. His slitted eyes flicked round as he sniffed the air, searching for his opponent - his prey.

His eyes finally settled on the real Haku, and a deep, rumbling growl that made the boy feel himself in the presence of an abomination. Something that should not exist, no matter what the circumstances; something human, intermingled with a beast.

"What in the world… are you?" Haku whispered, moving to another mirror as Naruto lunged towards him. He left deep scratches on his arm as he snatched at his body, presumably to rip it to shreds. Naruto sniffed him out even faster than before, and Haku did not make the safety of a third mirror.

Naruto punched and clawed his face and body, and Haku could see the burning chakra was eating the boy's skin as it did his own in such close proximity. Naruto raised one clawed fist and pushed it into his face with such force that he crashed through the back of the mirror Naruto had pulled him from, effectively releasing the technique.

Naruto pounced after him, resuming the facial barrage once he did so. His ceramic mask had long since disappeared, as had the friendly boy Haku had met in the woods. The sight of a familiar face did not stop the blone boy. Nor did the cries of his female team-mate.

"NARUTO STOP!!"

Naruto raised one clawed hand and the malicious energy seemed to gather at the tips of his fingers. He brought the hand down onto his chest as the pink haired girl screamed in protest yet again:

"STOP IT!!"

* * *

Sakura knew something was wrong when silence filled the air instead of the yells. For a long time, there was a deathly silence, except for the occasional scuffle of movement. Then something seemed to explode within the dome. The air grew thicker, and stung at her skin and eyes, biting at them. The closer to the dome of ice, the more obvious the orangey-red glow became.

"w-what is this?!" Tazuna asked, an arm in front of his face to protect it from the onslaught of energy. Sakure wasn't surprised Tazuna could sense this energy. It was massive, as if warning others it was to be avoided. She was glad Tazuna could not sense the more intricate workings of this chakra however.

It was pure malice. She could feel it searching for something to rip to pieces, something to burn, it was horrible. She could feel the glee as it burned her skin a small amount. She did not dare breathe more than necessary; she got the feeling that even breathing the air would be fatal if she drank in too much of it.

She felt terrified in the presence of such a chakra, and unfortunately for her she had a pretty good idea of where it was coming from; Naruto.

- - - - - - - - - - -

_As Naruto slept, Kakashi motioned to his two other gremlins - who were equally exhausted as their blonde companion.  
_"_What do you want?" a grumpy Sasuke asked rudely. He was still furious with their teacher; thankfully, Naruto had convinced him it would be better to wait to exact revenge._

"_I want to talk about the finer points of the Kyuubi's sealing in Naruto"  
_"_Then tell us, don't spend all night telling us you're going to talk about them" Sakura grumbled, equally grumpy. Kakashi sighed._

"_Look, just because the Kyuubi is sealed inside Naruto doesn't make it any less of a threat."  
_"_Obviously, but only unless the seal fails right? The fourth was a sealing genius, so that won't happen." Sakura said confidently._

"_That's not entirely true." the two looked at him in surprise. "The Kyuubi is interlinked with Naruto now. If Naruto dies, the Kyuubi dies. If the Kyuubi dies, then Naruto dies. One will not live without the other. The Kyuubi has been becoming a part of Naruto since the day it was sealed. That is what I meant."_

"_So… Naruto's going to grow a bunch of fluffy tails and a pair of fox ears?" Sasuke asked confused.  
He snorted when he thought of the idea. Sakura also giggled._

"_This is no laughing matter!" Kakashi snapped, silencing the two Genin. "And no, I don't mean Naruto is going to grow tails and ears." Sakura and Sasuke both frowned, still not understanding what he meant. Kakashi fought the urge to strangle them._

"_What I meant is it has had an influence on Naruto's psyche. His personality, habits, quirks. Take a look at how he runs on a long distance mission; he uses all four limbs easily. Most ninja would have trouble with that. That is an example of the Kyuubi's influence. The way he eats as if he wont get another meal for weeks; another of the Kyuubi's mannerisms. It is a fox, a demon one, but essentially still a fox. The way he growls when he is angry. He does that more than other people do. His love of pranks, nicknames like 'bottom-boy', all these are examples of the Kyuubi's influence on him. It's not much, or anything dangerous, but the fact it has had an influence on him is"_

"_Is the swearing because of the Kyuubi too?" Sasuke asked.  
_"_No, that's from his mother. She swears like a water-country fisherman.  
_"_Don't you mean fish wife?" Sakura asked._

"_No, I mean fisherman. But that is beside the point. The point is because of this influence, Naruto instinctively taps into the Kyuubi's power whenever his emotions are running high-"  
_"_Those red eyes!!" Sasuke cried. Both Sakura and Kakashi looked at him quizzically. _

"_When Naruto gets really angry for one reason or another, like if someone threatens me or Ino or Shikamaru, his eyes sometimes go this creepy red and his pupils go slitted like an animals. It is a different red to the Sharingan, and they feel completely different. They feel wrong… malevolent. Even if that's not what Naruto's feeling, they feel like they're going to rip you to shreds."_

_Sakura looked shocked and Kakashi nodded._

"_That's exactly it. If Naruto taps into that too much, it could be disastrous. The Kyuubi, for all the aid it gives Naruto, is still only concerned about itself. It will use Naruto emotions as a way to escape. If not, it will influence Naruto to do it's bidding instead. That will be even worse, the Kyuubi is just pure chakra by itself it cannot use techniques. But if it influences Naruto enough, it can through Naruto."_

_Sakura and Sasuke were no longer laughing._

"_I'm not going to tell you that Naruto will never loose control of the Kyuubi because he will. It is inevitable, in the ninja world it impossible for emotions not to run high at some point, and that will be what the Kyuubi aims for. Naruto probably knows this instinctively, as well as what his limits are concerning the Kyuubi. If at any point, he should go past them and loose control, it will be up to you two to bring him back to reality. Don't try anything else; you won't last against that chakra."_

_Sasuke frowned.  
_"_It's just chakra isn't it? Just a whole lot of it? What's so bad about the chakra itself?"_

"_That chakra is not normal, and I speak from experience Sasuke. It is a horrible chakra. It has its own repulsive mind" they were surprised to see Kakashi shudder at the memory. Seeing their looks of non-comprehension, he sighed._

"_I can't explain it very well; it's something you have to experience for yourself to understand, though I hope that you wont have to for a long time. Just mind what I say and be careful should the worst happen."_

_- - - - - - - - - -_

Sakura knew what Kakashi had meant now that she was experiencing for herself. She could only imagine what it had felt like to Sasuke, who had been standing next to…  
'_Why isn't Sasuke trying to stop him? He was right next to him; he knows he's supposed to calm him down if this happened…' _

She was interrupted from her thoughts when two boys crashed through one of the mirrors.  
One was the boy who had made the mirrors, which were now dissolving. The other…

"Oh god… is that…?" it was Naruto. But he did not look like Naruto. He looked like some sort of animal gone berserk. That awful chakra was bubbling at the tips of clawed fingers held in the air. She could tell almost immediately, what he was planning. She wanted to go and bash him back to his senses but…

"Go. I'm not completely incompetent, and he needs your help more than I do." Tazuna said, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Think of it as an order from your client if it makes it easier." Sakura gave him a grateful smile before abandoning him and rushing towards Naruto.

"Hurry!" Kakashi called as she passed the two Jonin. "I'll keep him busy, just bring him back!" he called after her. She nodded as she rushed forward. She was close enough to see that the Kyuubi's chakra was gnawing into Naruto's skin, leaving several bleeding patches where the skin had been eaten away. She could feel it doing the same thing to her own skin as she encroached on the two boys.

"NARUTO STOP!!" she yelled, forcing her already exhausted legs to move faster towards the blonde boy.  
Naruto ignored her, and seemed to have gathered enough chakra in his palm.

As she grew close enough to roughly make out the now-thicker whisker marks on his cheeks, the hand that had been raised in the air was brought down in one swift movement upon haku's feminine frame.

" STOP IT!!" She screamed. Simultaneously, the red colour in his eyes faded and the malevolent chakra began to dissipate slightly as Naruto's fist plunged into Haku's chest and pulled out a less-clawed handful of organ mass - most likely from his left lung and heart.

* * *

_**Yeah. This chapter ain't so cheery. going into the darker bits here, so I've put the rating up.  
I don't think it's that bad personally but...  
Little kiddlings who are reading might not think so. They might pee themselves or something. **_

_**I realise the Kyuubi isnt this bad at the begining of the story but the Kyuubi is a deranged demonic fox who seems to have a love of blood. I'm suprised it didnt go crazy earlier than the second arc to be honest, since it would have had a better chance at doing so since Naruto didnt understand the dangers of it as much then. I mean, he bullied the thing into giving him chakra. How naive do you get?**_

_**Reveiw?  
(I'm especially interested as to peoples thoughts on the description of the kyuubi chakra. I'm a bit paranoid about that...)  
Usual cookies ensured.**_

Natarii.  
xxx


	9. Returning To Konoha

**_I am not Masashi Kishimoto Lawyer Duckies.  
So how on earth would I own Naruto? If you can think of a counter-argument, then I'm seriously all ears so I can nick it from you, but untill then I will not have any lawyer duckies chasing me_**

**_Capise?_**

* * *

__

_" STOP IT!!" She screamed. Simultaneously, the red colour in his eyes faded and the malevolent chakra began to dissipate slightly as Naruto's fist plunged into Haku's chest and pulled out a less-clawed handful of organ mass - most likely from his left lung and heart._

Sakura watched as Naruto ripped his blood covered hand from Haku's chest. She could feel the malevolent energy in the area dissipating, being pulled back to Naruto. Naruto also seemed to be finally regaining his senses and was looking around, completely flummoxed as to how he got into his current position.

He brought the hand still holding the chunks of organs to his face and stared in wide eyed shock. He hadn't even noticed what he had been holding until he had seen it. He dropped the still-moving bloody mess to the floor and held his hands in front of him; they were shaking violently.

He looked down pulling on his sticky clothes. He couldn't see it on his black t-shirt but it was present on the sleeves of his orange jacket; the sticky feeling of his clothes told him he was covered in blood. His eyes then followed the trail of blood staining the concrete before finally landing on the mangled body of the not-a-girl from the forest.

Naruto stared at the wound on Haku's chest seeing the missing pieces of lungs and hearts, then back to the bloody mass he had dropped earlier, then back to his own blood-stained hands.

Sakura rushed to his side as he fell to his knees beside the boy's body and vomited noisily.

_

* * *

_

Sasuke groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He felt like he had been stabbed repeatedly in a number of places simultaneously. Wait a minuet; that sounded familiar for some reason. Upon opening his eyes he could see he was indoors. He wasn't supposed to be indoors though… where was he supposed to be again?

With great effort he pushed himself up into a sitting position, grunting from the pain that wracked his body as he did so. Looking around he recognized the room as the spare room they had been using at Tazuna's house…

Tazuna?

The recollection of the name brought a cascade of memories back to him. The demon brothers, Zabuza, the training, his fight with Naruto, finding out about the Kyuubi, the battle on the bridge, being hit by all those needles…

He looked around jerkily, ignoring the sharp stings coursing through him from the movement. On the other side of the room, laid down on a futon, was Naruto. He was covered in scabs where his skin had been damaged, and he gave a grunt or hiss in pain. Sasuke struggled and swore at his legs as he forced himself into a standing position.

He stood shaking for a few moments before taking a small, rather wobbly, step forward.  
Almost immediately he fell towards the wooden floorboardsface first, landing with a dull thud.  
He swore again.

The door opened revealing Sakura and Kakashi.

"Sasuke! What on earth are you doing?!" Sakura yelled aghast. "You shouldn't be moving!" she reprimanded. He felt sure she would have hit him had he not been injured already. Instead she forced one of his arms around her shoulders and half dragged him back to the futon he had been lying in.

"What happened on the bridge?" he demanded in a raspy voice.  
His throat felt like someone had taken several razors to it.

"Is Naruto alright?"

* * *

Jiraiya looked at his two old team mates in an unusually serious manner for him. They noticed that he was being unusually serious for their periodical monthly meetings, and waited for him to share whatever he had discovered since their last meeting.

"The old geezer has asked us to return to Konoha." he said calmly. If Orochimaru's eyes had been capable of popping out of his skull, they would have. Tsunade frowned, not happy with his news at all.

"I knew something bad was going to happen when I got that row of sevens…" she grumbled, before taking a long drink of sake.  
"You too?" Orochimaru asked raising an eyebrow. "This must be serious if you actually won something." Contrary to his disparaging tone, Orochimaru was actually trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere surrounding them with a joke.

"Unfortunately, you're right." Jiraiya sighed. Orochimaru and Tsunade looked at him expectantly. "The old geezer suspects there a still some of the Uchiha activists still alive, and gathering support. Guess who they're targeting?"

Orochimaru hissed with anger whilst Tsunade dropped he sake cup.  
"Naruto?!" he asked, outraged Jiraiya nodded.

"They tried to kill their clan leader's son when he, Shikaku and Inochi's children tried to protect him when they were in the academy. They succeeded in poisoning Naruto, but his guest took care of that." Tsunade slammed her fist onto the counter of the bar in an attempt to control her rage.

"More recently, an academy teacher was apprehended for treachery when he tricked Naruto into sealing the forbidden scroll and told him about the Kyuubi. The interrogation department couldn't find out a thing other than the names of two other teachers involved, such was the skill of whoever organized all this."

"I thought that snake skin was a bad sign, but I never suspected anything like this…" Orochimaru grumbled into his own sake cup.

"There's more." Jiraiya added grimly. Tsunade choked on the drink in her new cup. Orochimaru patted her on the back until she could breathe properly again.

"There's more?!" she asked incredulously. "How much worse can things get?!"  
"My thoughts exactly." Orochimaru added.

"Naruto has started asking questions about his mother again. And he's picked up on the fact her disappearance was… not normal."They stared at him, Tsunade's mouth agape and Orochimaru's eyes popping.

"…that… would probably do it…" Tsunade concluded.  
"…my thoughts exactly…"

* * *

Sakura tensed up. Kakashi sighed in resignation

"...After you collapsed, supposedly dead, Naruto went into a rage. He unconsciously drew out the Kyuubi's chakra, that's where those wounds came from." Kakashi said, as he gestured to the scabs on Naruto and similar ones on Sakura. Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked down at his hands. They too were covered in similar wounds, similar in size to the ones on Naruto.

"Naruto lost all sense of reasoning towards Haku, and ripped out some of his lung and heart before he came out of his rage. When he came to he… well, he wasn't very pleased with himself. Zabuza was betrayed by Gato, and he killed him along with a lot of the mercenaries that accompanied him before he died. He told Naruto that you weren't dead, only in a death like state, before he finally passed away. After that Naruto collapsed."

Sasuke stared at his teacher before looking back at his hands again.  
"The Kyuubi chakra… did this?" he rasped, before a hacking cough took control. His throat felt like it had been ripped out. Sakura ran out of the room and came back moments later with a glass of water. After taking several grateful sips, he looked to Kakashi for an answer to his question, but it was Sakura who answered.

"That chakra, it… I could feel it wanting to rip me to shreds. It was horrible. Naruto wasn't controlling it, but it was eating away at me anyway. I could feel it clawing at my throat when I breathed it in… it was pure evil, Sasuke. It was just…" Sakura did not finish her sentence.

"You were only a few feet away from Naruto when he lost it, where the chakra was strongest. That's why your throat and skin were so badly damaged. I was at the other end of the bridge until I ran up to Naruto yelling at him to stop when he… well I was further away for the most part." she explained after a moment of deep thought.

Sasuke didn't ask questions about what she had been trying to stop Naruto from doing. He had his own ideas from Kakashi's earlier explanation.  
Instead he looked over to Naruto.

"Why did he collapse?" he asked, confused. It was obvious the Kyuubi chakra was poison to others, but it had healed Naruto hadn't it?

"Naruto isn't immune to that chakra Sasuke; He's worse off for it. You've seen what happened to you and you were only close by for about five minuets. Naruto is constantly exposed to it." Kakashi clarified, for Sakura as well as Sasuke. He had refrained from explaining too much until at least Sasuke had woken up.

"He's recovering from the repercussions of using the fox's chakra now, but the Kyuubi doesn't seem to be speeding it along like normal. I suspect it realizes it wouldn't be beneficial to do so right now." Kakashi commented, watching the sleeping blonde. Sasuke frowned for a moment before he understood the meaning of his teacher's words, and clenched one of his fists into the bed sheet Sakura had forced over him.

Sakura frowned in confusion and looked to Sasuke for an explanation

"What does he mean Sasuke?" she asked.  
"He means that healing is just as bad as the Kyuubi chakra. Cells can only regenerate so much before they die completely, and the Kyuubi forcibly hastens Naruto's regeneration rate." Sasuke grunted.

Sakura turned to look at Naruto wide-eyed.  
Any ideas she'd had of the Kyuubi being a benefit to Naruto in some ways were quickly being replaced by the negative aspects.

* * *

Ino was slurping her vegetable ramen noisily when she caught sight of something orange out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head for a closer look and saw yellow, black, pink, and grey blobs walking down the street.

"They're back!" she yelled to her companion. "Come on! Let's go see them!"  
She pulled Shikamaru from his chair and dragged him behind her as she chased after the blonde.

"My ramen! Let go of my arm you bothersome woman!" Shikamaru complained as he was dragged behind his team-mate. Ino paid no attention to his protests and chased after team 7 as fast as her legs would let her with the extra baggage.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" she called before adding, as an afterthought; "Sakura!"

They all turned round and waited for her to catch up. Shikamaru grumbled to himself for a while as she greeted them enthusiastically. Sakura seemed glad to see her, and even gladder Ino was talking to her again and they promised to meet up later on to catch up. Sasuke just nodded and turned to Shikamaru and dragged him of amidst more protests. When Naruto greeted her with an enthusiastic smile, she felt something tie itself into a knot in the pit of her stomach.

_'Again. Something's happened again!'_

Sasuke's abduction of Shikamaru suggested she was thinking correctly since those two often conferred over this sort of thing before making any decision over what to do next. Quickly realizing what her job was she glomped Naruto who yelled at her to get off and to stop choking him.

"Mission success party! You owe me ramen for leaving me to live off your scraps!" she said, releasing him and dragging him away from Kakashi and Sakura.  
"They're not scraps! You just didn't know what to make with them!"  
"Also true, but you still owe me ramen!" she retorted, clinging onto one of his arms with one of her own.

"But I don't get paid yet! I can't afford it right now!" He frowned. "How about I just make something from those so called scraps fro you to eat?" he suggested as an alternative, smiling properly this time.

Had Ino not been focusing on her mission to drag whatever happened out of him, she would have turned into Hinata again and fainted in the middle of the street from the sight of that smile.

* * *

"Why can you never tell me any good news?" Shikamaru grumbled. They were both sitting on a tree branch in one of the many trees that grew in Konoha, watching Ino drag Naruto off in some sort of perk-up tactic.

"This is going to be such a pain in the ass…" Sasuke had just told him what had happened on the mission, starting from the fight with Naruto on the journey, and ending with the depressing explanation Kakashi had given them after the mission concerning the Kyuubi chakra.

"This is Naruto, he cause nothing but problems any day of the week. Good or bad." Sasuke justified himself. Shikamaru seemed to find this a suitable explanation for the new headache.  
"Everything is getting so complicated" Shikamaru complained.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and his friend continued.  
"About three weeks ago, just before you guys left on your mission my father was summoned for a meeting with the Hokage along with your dad and Ino's. When he came back he looked like they'd been talking about some giant problematic problem. He told me and my mum that Mizuki had been taken to the information department for interrogation"

Sasuke sucked in a deep breath.  
That didn't say anything good, more like it screamed something else was going on they weren't aware of.  
Tch. Perfect.

"I didn't think anything of it until a few days later. I wandered over to Naruto's flat with Yoshiko to get away from our parents for a while and Ino was there. She said her father had been given a long mission and asked Naruto if she could stay with him since he was paranoid about leaving her on her own."

"That is a complete and utter pile of crap." Sasuke snorted. "The Yamanaka clan area is one of the best protected in Konoha. Ino would be far safer there than she would be with Naruto. Besides, Ino can look after herself."

"That's why I think she was sent to look after Naruto." Shikamaru stated.  
"What? But why?"  
"I don't know but I think it's safe to conclude something is going on that our parents don't like one bit, and it involves Naruto"

Sasuke fought the urge to bang his head against the tree trunk (since no walls were available).  
"Why is always Naruto?" he asked to no one in particular. "Why does he always get saddled with all the bad shit?"

Shikamaru raised an eye at his choice of language. Sasuke hated swearing with a passion. It was a sign of just how bad the mission had really been; despite their success, it had been a nightmare.

"I wish I knew Sasuke, I've asked myself that same question but I still can't find a justifiable answer" he sighed.  
"Justifiable?" Sasuke asked, puzzled.  
"I have several theories, but that's all they are." Shikamaru grumbled. "I don't have any firm evidence to support them in spit of what you just told me. Besides, I'm surprised I even came up with some of them; they're that ridiculous." he gazed in the direction of the Hokage monument as he said the last part.

Sasuke gave him a puzzled look but said nothing. He knew better than to get involved with Shikamaru when he was contemplating his theories.  
Foolish man, be the one to interrupt him; He faceth Nara-wrath.

"I guess we'll just have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Shikamaru gave him a withering look.  
"Alright we'll have to make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid" Shikamaru continuer to give him that look.

"Anything dangerous?"  
There was silence.

"Anything problematic in general?"  
More Silence.

"Anything he shouldn't?"  
Shikamaru gave no instead, continuing his exasperated look instead.

"Anything?"  
Sasuke wondered if Shikamaru had fallen asleep at some point.

"Just keep a look out and help out when we can?"  
"…that sounds about right."

Sasuke grumbled to himself for a long moment before Shikamaru interrupted.  
"Sasuke, I think you'd better go home. Something going on with your mother, she's smiling at everyone and making cookies."

Sasuke almost fell off the tree branch.  
"My mum? Are you sure? Mikoto isn't that rare a name… its entirely possible youre thinking of someone else from the clan" Sasuke refused to belive his mother was making cookies. His mother could not bake anything but slightly-iffy bread.

Shikamaru nodded."My dad went over to discuss something with your dad and she practically shoved the cookies down my throat" he grumbled.  
"But my mum cant bake for shit!"

"Tell that to the cookies that were edible" Shikamaru snorted. "And if that wasn't bad enough, I had to watch your dad practically eat her. I'm seriously scarred for life…" Sasuke jumped of the tree.

Something major was going on if his father was showing affection in public.  
He would barley hold his mother's hand when they were together in the village.  
Something weird was going on!

* * *

"So? What are you two going to do?" Jiraiya asked his team-mates.  
"I don't know." Orochimaru grumbled. "I can see why the old geezer wants us to come back but…"

"I'm not going back." Tsunade informed him firmly. "I already know you're going to go back Jiraiya. The old man doesn't need all of us. I refuse to go back unless I absolutely have to. And even then it will only be a short time."

"I think she's right." Orochimaru sighed. "I don't want to go back just yet; besides, you were always closest to Minato. You know more than we do I'm sure."  
"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that." Jiraiya sighed

"Its not that we don't want to Jiraiya!" Tsunade said quickly, rising from her chair. "You think I don't want to see Kushina's little boy? I do it just…" she trailed off.  
"You don't have to explain it to me Tsunade" Jiraiya said smiling at her reassuringly. "I understand. Your reasons as well Orochimaru."

"I didn't say anything" Orochimaru grumbled.  
"Didn't have to." Jiraiya grinned

* * *

Ino looked at Naruto apprehensively. He had barley spoken a word since she had dragged him back to his flat barraging him with questions as she went. Yet that hadn't worked like it usually did for the not-so-disastrous-but-still-bad occurrences, meaning she had a small catastrophe on her hands.

She sat on his bed watching him from the other side of the room pensively. The problem was approaching the subject. She couldn't do the rescuing-morale thing if she had no information, but that wasn't going to be easy. Once she got him talking he'd rattle on and on until he'd got the whole story out, but getting him to open up was almost as hard as getting oil and water to mix.

From the grave look on Sasuke's face earlier, this was the biggest problem to date. Likely bigger than the Mizuki thing, which meant it would be even more of a headache. And considering she hadn't actually managed to get any extra information of supreme importance out of him then, she didn't have much hope for this new 'therapy session' either. She'd have to start taking more direct action if she wanted to get anything out of him now. Especially if what Shikamaru had told her about their parents meetings was true.

If it was, then things weren't going to stay so uneventful.

"So? What happened on the mission?" she asked bluntly. The effect was immediate. Naruto almost dropped the knife he was using to chop up some tomatoes. He turned to her wide eyed for a few seconds, before turning back to the red fruits.

"Nothing, there was a couple of bandits and a missing-nin so it turned A-Rank, but that's all." Naruto said as if C-Ranks turned into A-Ranks on a daily basis. Ino growled in protest.

"That's bullshit Naruto. I can tell you're lying and you know how much I hate lies." she hissed. Naruto sighed inwardly. Why did he have to grow up with a Yamanaka? They were like human lie detectors that frazzled you if you were caught lying. He figured it had to do with that mind reading thing.

He was beginning to get the impression it would be bad for his health if he didn't tell Ino what had happened in Wave and about the Fox.  
Then again, did he really want to tell Ino what happened?  
Pft. No thank you.

Sakura and Sasuke may have taken the news well, and had an inkling that Ino would react similarly, but if he told her about the Kyuubi then he'd have to bring up Haku. Naruto did not want to bring up Haku if he could help it.

Then again, he knew that if he didn't tell Ino now she would just find out from Sasuke and Shikamaru (who would probably have been told by Sasuke) and then come back and murder him for not telling her anything in the first place.

So all in all he had two options and which ever way he swung it, Ino would find out. Naruto decided to go with the less painful option and tell her himself, glossing over details of the _'Haku/Kyuubi incident'._

* * *

"Itachi! What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, taking a seat next to his brother at the ramen bar.

"What does it look like I'm doin'?" the elder sibling slurred in reply.  
"…Are you drunk?" Sasuke asked shifting away from his brother a little.  
"I'm not sure… I see two Sasuke's, so… yes, probably. "

Sasuke whimpered before turning to the inner are of Ichiraku's.  
"Big Sis Ayame! Itachi's gone loopy! He's drunk!" Sasuke yelled to his brothers supposedly secret girlfriend.  
"He's wha- Eek!" there was clattering as she presumably dropped what ever she had been holding, before she appeared at the counter.

"What did you just say Sasuke?" she asked again.  
"Look!" he pointed at his brother. "He's drunk!"

Ayame's jaw dropped.  
She picked up the bottle of sake Itachi had been pouring for himself and closely examined it.

"This has a 15% alcohol level!" She shrieked, before turning to glare at Itachi. "What were you thinking, Drinking so much of this stuff?!"

"My parents have scarred me for life. My mother is baking edible desserts and my father is actually displaying emotion. Please, Ayame, give me the bottle back so I can pretend I imagined this tomorrow morning!" he ended with a pleading tone in his voice.

"Itachi, what's going on at home?" Sasuke asked, somewhat scared to hear the answer.  
Itachi gave him a levelled gaze before he looked away, mumbling softly.

"Pardon?" Sasuke asked, not hearing his brother's mumble.  
"Mum's pregnant." Itachi stated bluntly; he then proceeded to pass out on the wooden counter of Ichiraku Ramen.

Sasuke fell of his chair.

* * *

"Were you followed?" Yotsuba asked his co-conspirators as they entered the room.  
Both gave negative replies, and after securing the room and taking their seats he began the meeting.

"I called this meeting to bring up the possibility of working with one of the other clans. While I think we Uchiha will be more than a match for the village forces, I don't thing some extra help would be harmful."

"It has possibilities…" Takuro mused.

Takeshi frowned mulling the information over.  
"I thought we were to be receiving aid from Suna and Oto?" he asked.

Yotsuba snorted with mild disgust.  
"I'm not so fool hardy as to trust that man blindly. He is only concerned with his own interests, and will turn on us if doing so is of benefit to him. And as for Suna, they will not hold back against us. We may be in an alliance with them, but we are still Konoha ninjas and as such a target."

Takeshi and Takuro nodded in understanding.  
"And that's why we need allies from Konoha." Takuro finalized.  
"They certainly wouldn't be unwelcome" Yotsuba muttered, clearly deep in thought.

"We've already ruled out members of our own clan that would be unsympathetic to our cause." Takeshi stated. "The Yamanakas and Naras are out; and by default the Akimichis."

"What about the Inuzukas? As I recall they had a fierce rivalry with that thing's family" Takuro asked.  
"That was no rivalry. There would never have been a marriage between the two if they hated each other that much. It was just a friendly rivalry, and they are too loyal to their own clan to allow themselves to aid another. Besides, they would rather eat their dogs before betraying the village." Takeshi countered.

"The Aburames are also too loyal. We don't have much of a relationship with them to have an influence over them anyway." Yotsuba added.

"So that leaves the Hyuugas…" Takuro groaned. "I really don't want to go to the Hyuugas" he complained.  
"You aren't the only one, but its not like we have any other choice is it?" Takeshi grunted.

"You're assuming they'll be sympathetic to our cause." Yotsuba added.  
"But they hated the Namikazes!" Takuro objected loudly.

"But they don't like the Uchiha clan either. I don't think they would jump at the chance to work with us to destroy the last Namikaze. They'd want the glory for themselves." Takeshi countered.

"Exactly, and I highly doubt they'd be willing to go against Konoha for one boy." the leader of the small group added.  
"Yotsuba, why did you call this meeting when you already knew we couldn't trust any of the other clans?" Takuro asked.

"Because I wanted to see if you felt the same way. I had to be certain." He pinched his forehead, deep in thought before continuing.

"Since we can't count on any of the clans as a whole, we'll have to try and recruit individuals. Takuro, try and weed out likely candidates from the ANBU register."  
Takuro nodded.

"Takeshi, do the same with the Jonin." Takeshi also nodded  
"What about you Yotsuba?" Takeshi asked.  
"Me? I'm going to talk to Danzou."

* * *

Ino stared at him, mouth agape. He fidgeted under her gaze and the uncharacteristic calm. Why wasn't she saying anything? Here he was, handing her his heart and soul - for lack of a better expression - and all she did was gawp like a goldfish.

He wasn't sure if he should laugh or not since it was a very serious and sensitive subject. He was about to ask her to say something she pounced from her seat in a cat-like fashion and wrapped her arms around his neck. After regaining his bearings (for what seemed to be the umpteenth time in the time span of a few weeks) he could feel her body trembling with suppressed… he wasn't sure.

Whatever it was, it was odd.  
"Ino? Are you alrig-"

"Don't say anything" she growled angrily, though Naruto was somehow able to tell the anger was not directed at him. "Don't you dare ask me that question! That's my line! Why didn't you tell me you idiot?!" she let loose a barrage against his chest and, sooner rather than later, his head.

"Ow! What was I supposed to- Ow! Say? Hey Ino guess wha- Ow! I got a fucking fox- Ow! Demon stuck in my bel- OW! WILL YOU CEASE AND DESIST WITH THE PUNCHING AND THE HITTING ALREADY!"

"Well, you could have said something." Ino pouted, cheeks puffing out in protest as she folded her arms across her chest. Her eyes still held a fierce, angry look.  
"Why are you so mad anyway?" he asked. He was rightly assuming she was not going to run away screaming in terror, so he was puzzled as to the reason for her current emotional state. Ino, whose thoughts had been elsewhere, whipped her head round to face him at the sound of his voice in surprise. However, she seemed to mellow slightly when her brain processed the question.

"I'm not mad at you Naruto. I'm mad at the villagers for being so fucking stupid, I'm mad at Lord Fourth for doing that to you, I'm mad at that fucking fox for even being here in the first place!" her voice dripped with hatred as she mentioned the fox. She glared at his stomach area as if talking to the demon itself.

"You hear me you no-good hunk of chakra? If it wasn't for the fact I'd be hurting Naruto I'd top you off right now!" she yelled, glare fixed on Naruto's stomach. She seemed to realize what she was doing was fairly silly, and slapped a hand to her forehead. She then formed a hand sign to focus chakra, before forming another familiar hand sign at which Naruto's eyes widened in horror.

"Mind Transfer techni-" Naruto slammed one hand over her mouth the other pulling away one of her hand to break up the finger formation. The actions pushed her back onto the bed. Ino's eyes widened in shock, and tried to free herself, but his tone of voice stopped any movement on her part.

"Don't ever try that again Ino!" he hissed - half angry, half afraid. Though whether the fear was for his sake or her own was unclear to the blonde girl.  
"Promise me Ino!" he hissed in desperation. "Promise me you won't put yourself in a position anywhere near that… _that_ _thing!"_

Ino stared at him wide-eyed and stunned into stillness.  
"Promise me!" Naruto growled, leaning towards her and looking directly into her own, paler, blue eyes. She said nothing for a moment before bobbing her head up and down in an affirmative gesture. And immediately, he released her mouth and wrist from his iron grip, her skin dyed white from the actions.

He slumped his head face down on the pillow next to her own, not moving from his position above her - instead slumping on her own body in exhaustion.  
"Thank you Ino…" he breathed.

* * *

Sasuke tried to keep his thoughts from wandering to Naruto as he walked back to the clan house, but it was to no avail. He was worried. He would be denying it if he said otherwise (though if someone asked, he would distinctly avoid answering). He had been distracted from his first priority by Itachi's drunken revelation earlier, but now that he'd been given some time to get used to the news it had been moved down a couple of spaces on the priority list. Which meant his thoughts wandered back to Naruto.

Naruto was acting strange lately. Admittedly, learning about the Kyuubi was likely a big part of that, but there was something else nagging at him.  
Something obvious.

It was like gazing upon a familiar object, like a kunai, only there was a screen in front of it. He could see the shape outlined on the screen, but he couldn't tell what it was. He knew what it was, but the word for it escaped him because he couldn't see anything but the shadow.  
Whatever it was, it had Naruto seriously messed up.

The fight they'd had on the way to wave told him that. They had fought before in training yes, and they had argued, but not like that. That had been far too serious for Sasuke's peace of mind,. True, he had pushed Naruto to reveal some thing he had not wanted to share (for which, in hindsight, he had good reason to do so), but he had done that before!

Yes, the Kyuubi was a serious matter, and as such warranted a serious reaction, but Naruto was still acting odd. Long after the incident and the revelation of the Kyuubi. Naruto was directly avoiding talking to people if he could and if not, he acted far too cheerful for comfort. Sasuke uncharacteristically pulled at his hair in frustration, using all of his willpower to suppress the accompanying howl.

_'Why can't these thing be simple?!'_ He asked himself desperately.

_"You're assuming they'll be sympathetic to our cause."  
"But they hated the Namikazes!"_

Sasuke paused mid-step and turned around. He couldn't see anyone behind him, but he was certain he had heard someone talking. Shrugging it off as nothing he turned around again and was about to resume walking when:

_"I know, but they don't like the Uchiha clan either. I don't think they would jump at the chance to work with us to destroy the last Namikaze. They'd want the glory for themselves."  
"Exactly, and I highly doubt they'd be willing to go against Konoha for one boy."_

Sasuke's eyes widened. He was positive he had not misheard now. He quickly moved towards the wall of a near by house, hugging the shadows as he strained his ears for more information.

_"Danzou? You think that wise?"_

Hearing the voice, Sasuke pressed himself nearer to the wall. Ever so carefully, so as to avoid detection, he focused his chakra into his ears for better eavesdropping. It seemed to work and soon, Sasuke was listening to the orchestration of something that would turn his world upside down.

_"…untrustworthy he may be, but he will still be of use to us. He detests the Namikazes as much as we do."  
"I'm not worried about that…"  
"What are you worried about then?"_

As far as he could tell, there were three voices. He seemed to have stumbled across the main conspirators of some plot in the middle of a meeting. He had no doubt the schemers were Uchiha. The clan security measures were to strong for unwanted outsiders to enter without raising some kind of alarm. Besides, no one would be stupid enough to plot a conspiracy in the middle of the Uchiha compound unless they were very brave, lacking a brain, or very sure of their own skills.

Besides form the easy way the chatted back and forth with little worry for security they were used to being here, and knew the area was not often used (he had only been passing by since it was a shorter root from the gate than his usual one would have been, and his mother would scream bloody murder if he was late for dinner). Hardly anyone outside the clan knew that, Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, and likely the Hokage among those few.

_"…might catch him for himself instead."  
"You think he'd do that? I thought he hated the boy?"  
"Hatred aside, I don't think he'd pass up the opportunity to have his own personal weapon of mass destruction."  
"I understand your fears, but if this is the case - and you are most likely right - then we just have to kill the Kyuubi brat before he can get his mitts on him."_

Sasuke froze.

_'Naruto?! They want to kill him? Why the bloody hell would anyone want to do that?'_ Sasuke resisted the urge to slap himself for his own stupidity. It was obvious why someone would want to kill Naruto: because of the Kyuubi.

_'But weren't they talking about getting rid of a Namikaze earlier?'_ Which was it?  
Did they have two targets?  
Or… Were they both the same one?

Was Naruto a member of the supposedly extinct clan of wind users?

But that couldn't be right! The last Namikaze had been Minato Namikaze! The Fourth Hokage! Sasuke stopped his train of thought for several seconds before his eyes, unseen by the traitors, widened as he came to a very accurate revelation, but for a few misconceptions.

_'The fourth Kyuubi sealed the Naruto in Hokage !'_ Sasuke yelled to himself. He seemed to understand however, despite the obvious mix up.

_'The Fourth was the last Namikaze. These bastards want to kill a survivor. They want to kill Naruto. Mi-na-to… Na-ru-to… Their names are really similar now that I think about it… What did Lord Fourth look like again?' _Sasuke though back to one of his trips to the Hokage's office with his brother. He remembered seeing the four photos hanging on the wall behind the old man's sofa. First that she-male-looking wood bloke, then the dude with that weird head-band-mask-thingy, then a non-wrinkled Third Lord and then… The Fourth Hokage.

The Yellow Flash of Konoha.  
Yellow. He had that obnoxious, loud-colored, messy blonde hair. It had been all over the place. He'd been pretty scary looking, actually. He had a hard looking face. Strict. Not like his father though, it was a different kind of strict. A weird, kind, sort of strict. You could tell by looking at his eyes.

His eyes had been blue. Not a bright, friendly shade but a rich, vibrant one.  
Still blue though.

_'He looked like Naruto… Just older…'_ Sasuke concluded. He knew this wasn't enough to confirm his suspicions however. He didn't nearly have enough information on the guy.  
Maybe he should ask his father, he'd probably know. He had been on the same Genin tea…

_'Fucking hell! No wonder he lets Naruto hang around here so much! He's his team-mate's son! This explains so much…'_

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by a gleeful whoop, one which reminded him of the more immediate problem.  
_"Whheeeee!"_ came a drunken cry from the other side of the wall. _"That Kyuubi bast-hole is going dooooowwwn!"_

_'Naruto. They're going to kill Naruto!'_ Sasuke reminded himself as he fumbled for a kunai. He had to stop them now! Before they could do anything else! He had the element of surprise, they'd be dead in minuets if he acted quickly enough. Sasuke was so absorbed in his thoughts of murderous-protection that he didn't notice the accidental spike in his chakra. He also failed to notice the presence of another chakra signature behind him until it was too late.

One hand grabbed his own hand fisted around the kunai whist another covered his mouth sharply. He bit his teeth into the flesh and clawed with his free hand in an attempt to free himself. His other hand fought against the one belonging to his captor to keep his kunai. Eventually however, the new ninja pried from his hand. The hand covering his mouth released him for an almost unnoticeable moment before slamming him into the wall - scarier still was that this was done with barley a rustle of clothing.

Sasuke spat blood and a small amount of flesh from his mouth, and his captors bloody had twisted one arm behind his back. The other did the same Sasuke could tell by the cold metal of the kunai handle. Sasuke remained silent bar a few grunts or hisses. He had a distinct feeling that yelling would be the bad idea.

With both hands kunai-free and twisted behind him, held in place by the hand he has so veraciously torn into, his captor seemed to be satisfied that he posed no threat. Sensing this, Sasuke decided to go out on a limb.

"Who are you?!" he hissed under his breath. "Are you part of this sick twisted scheme as well?!" he received no answer, so Sasuke tried to turn his head, in hope of catching a glimpse at his captors face. He felt himself being pushed into the rough stucco of the wall instead. Moments later he felt a hard thud, somewhere between the base of his neck and his head.

As the darkness crept over him, he felt himself being gently pulled away from the wall, and being picked up with equal tenderness. As his vision darkened and his eyelids drooped he looked up at his hostage taker. He couldn't make out his face but for an instant he recognized the voice.

"Sorry Sasuke, but you are ready for that information just yet"

And before he could call out the man's name, the darkness consumed him and Sasuke knew no more.

_

* * *

_

**_Nyah! Cliffhanger!  
He heh. Itachi was drunk.  
I dont want to put too many OC's in here, but it is sort of necessary for my plotline. At the moment I can only think of one more yet to be revealed, though technically they arent an OC since they're mentioned in the Databook, but they're not actually mentioned in the series so I guess that makes them an OC._ **

_**I'll give you three guesses as to who it is.  
I'll even give a hint: they are mentioned on Narutopedia in the trivia section of one of the charecters.  
Go forth and search minions!**_

_**Natarii  
XXX**_


	10. Preparations

**_Considering the fact that Sasuchii has gone Ape-Shit crazy in recent chapters...  
No, I do not own Naruto  
_**

* * *

_As the darkness crept over him, he felt himself being gently pulled away from the wall, and being picked up with equal tenderness. As his vision darkened and his eyelids drooped he looked up at his hostage taker. He couldn't make out his face but for an instant he recognised the voice._

"_Sorry Sasuke, but you are ready for that information just yet"_

_And before he could call out the man's name, the darkness consumed him and Sasuke knew no more._

Kushina glared at the letter that she had just received from one of Jiraiya's toad summons as she took a long swig from a sake bottle. She had known that anything Inochi had to say wouldn't be anything good, but this was just taking the biscuit!

How was she supposed to convince Deidara to come back from the dark side if his reasons for joining said dark side were turning out to be justifiable?! She looked down at the paper again and it was true that the Uchihas were responsible for the Kyuubi attack, it had not been an Uchiha under Fugaku's control. There had always been a rebel faction amongst the Uchihas who were aginst the relationship they had with the Namikazes.

And when those rebels had been given some outside help…

Thing had simply spiralled out of control.

She couldn't say she blamed Deidara for acting as he had, but she was defiantly angry with one else had runoff to join a group of S-Class criminals bent on world domination (she didn't know that for sure, but for some reason it was always world domination power or revenge with these types). Rin had left her husband behind in order to fix this mess for gods sake!

Karin had only seen her father in pictures! That was no kind of life for a child. She should have had the chance to go to the academy with Naruto! Not be going undercover in the laboratories of one of the most twisted ninja around!

Her in-laws were suffering from this as the clan had been the second hardest choice thay had had to make for the sake of all this. The first had been removing themselves from the publice eye, taking up false identities to protect the Grandson who didn't even know they existed.

And what about her own problems?She had lost her husband! She had given up her son after just a few years of knowing him. She'd never seen his first day at the academy, never been there to see him graduate with Sasuke, she'd missed birthdays, Christmases... She'd missed ten years of his life!

But despite all this effort she was till no closer to digging the weaknes of the man who caused all this in the first place. Ten years of spying and travelling, and barley anything to show for it. But she had to keep going, because if she gave up then it would be like handing Konoha to the man on a silver platter.

And more importantly, her son would be was not the only person suffering at the moment, and his help would be incredibly useful at the moment. But where was he? He was off with a group of criminals, sulking like a Genin and trying to avoid standing up and fighting for the chance to re-unite his Family!

Kushina picked up the open sake bottle that sat on the table and finished off half the liquid in a few gulps.  
Oh yes, Kushina was mad at Deidara for running away with his tail between his legs, but she'd get back to him later.

Jiraiya's letter had included one from Inochi, containing a sort of progress report on Naruto to ease her mind. They had agreed before she had left that they would not contact each other directly unless it was an emergency. Since they had an emergency on their hands now Inochi, bless his soul, had taken the opportunity to send her the information she had been craving for ten years.

Some things she was definitely happy with. Such as the observations Inochi ahd made on her sons interaction with his own daughter, and the team placements. She had laughed out loud upon sight of Sakura's surname. The third still had proved he still had his balls with that one. The news of Kakashi being placed as his Jonin Sensei had been laughter inducing too. If Inochi's description of her son was anything to go by, then he was likely driving the lazy Jonin up the wall.

However, something much more worrying had caught her eye.

He hadn't told anyone he couldn't read properly until he was eight years old?! What on earth had Inochi been doing not to notice this?  
More to the point, why had her son not pointed this out?

Was he an idiot?

If he was then she had no idea where he got the stupid genes from!She had plenty of brains and Minato was a freaking genius! How on earth had had this happened with such a heritage? Maybe he got it from Deidara? They weren't that distantly related after all…Yeah, it was probably Deidara…

Even more disturbing than her son's apparent idiocy was the news concerning the leftover rebels.

Kushina made to take another long swig from the bottle, however her plan was thwarted. Before she could grab hold of the bottle, a hand knocked it off the table and onto the floor where it landed with a clatter, spilling its alcoholic contents across the tiles.

"Mama K! What have I told you about the Sake?!"

_

* * *

_

Naruto stared at the blonde girl, who had once again taken up residence in his bed, from his seat on his bean-bag-sofa. After talking about the Kyuubi to Ino, he'd felt like some sort of weight had been lifted. Like when Sasuke had yelled at him for thinking he'd turn on him.

It had taken a while, but he realised this was a mixture of relief and gratitude.

After the revelation of the Kyuubi, shed told him about her own c-rank which had been much less eventful than his own. She'd told him about the discussion with Hinata about the dog they were chasing all the time for the daimyos wife that went by the name of Tori. Apparently, Hinata's team had a similar problem with a blue budgerigar named Toki.

After a lot of discussion about they had decided that Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru would be the ones to create the plots of revenge (their pranks were infamous all over the village). Naruto had eagerly agreed, positive that Sasuke would be just as willing. However they would have to wait until team 7 had carried out some revenge of their own against their teacher.

Ino raised an eyebrow but Naruto has simple cackled evilly as he imagined various scenarios, each ending with a defeated Kakashi.

After that she had fallen asleep.

He sighed in contentment and pulled one of the spare coves he had fished out over him and leaned back on the bean-bag. He had been worried about using the Kyuubi's power unconsciously - angry or not. But that could wait for tomorrow.

_

* * *

_

When Sasuke awoke, he was in his own room and the back of his head was killing him. What had happened? He figured he had been hit in the back of the head at some point but he couldn't remember what he had been doing the night before…

Groggily, he pulled himself up into something resembling a sitting position.

"You're awake!"

His head flicked towards the door and he saw his mother had dropped the armload of laundry to be dried on the floor in surprise and was now making a mad dash for his bed. Moments later she was fussing over him and checking his forehead for a fever.

"What happened mum?"

"Oh you were training with Itachi and you collapsed when he hit the back of your head with his foot! I gave him such a scolding, but your father said it was probably just because you were exhausted from your mission to Wave... Either way Itachi shouldn't have hit you so hard!" she huffed her last sentence indignantly as she wrestled his pyjama shirt off to examine the back of his neck.

She tuted to herself angrily and Sasuke winced when he felt her fingers brush over a part of his skin between his neck and his head. "Look at that bruise! Its already going purple!" she continued to grumble to herself about irresponsible older brothers as she dabbed some sort of ointment on the bruise.

Sasuke thought about what she had said previously and frowned.

"Mum, what mission are you talking about? I haven't been to Wave in my lif-"  
"You don't remember?!" she shrieked and Sasuke winced at the volume levels he voice obtained.  
"No, should I?"

"Of course you should! Oh, where that frying pan of your grandmothers? I'll give that idiot boy such a hiding for this…" she contined grumbling to her self. " But never mind that for now, I have some news!" she beamed at him with a lot more vehemence than usual. Sasuke felt like he should remember something, but he had no idea what.

He raised an eyebrow, cueing his mother to inform him of whatever it was she had to say.

"I was going to tell you when you came home after your training last night, but Itachi knocked you out so that plan was ruined…" she growled at the memory, and Sasuke made a silent prayer for his brothers safety.

"…anyway, the news is that you're not going to be the youngest for much longer. In about five months you're going to have a little brother or sister!"

Sasuke felt like collapsing all over again. His head was screaming that he should remember this; that he already knew this but he couldn't think!  
His head screamed at him whenever he tried.

"What?! But… but… your stomachs flat!" he argued, pointing to her flat stomach for emphasis.  
"I know, that's half the reason I didn't find out till you left for the mission to wave." she admitted.

Sasuke resisted the urge to hit his head of something.  
How could his mother not notice she was almost five months gone?!

"…not suprising really. It was the same with you and Itachi. I can guarentee I'll blow up like a ballon by next month…"

Sasuke ignored his mothers 't his mother a Jonin? Surley she should have noticed something of this magnitude?  
Sasuke's head was beginning to form several headaches as he tried to rationalize his mother's lace of observance.

"…oh, I hope it's a girl this time!" she hugged her half-comatose son with even more exuberance than usual, and Sasuke forced himself back to reality to return it. Her job done, she planted a kiss on his forehead and made for the doorway.

"…I love you and Itachi but boys are such a handful! Destroying roofs, knocking people out when it's not necessary, I don't know…" she said to herself as she hurried out of the room and down the hallway to the kitchen. Moments later, he heard her voice again, and felt like hiding in his wardrobe.

"ITACHI UCHIHA! GET YOUR ASS IN THIS KITCHEN RIGHT NOW YOUNG MAN! I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!!"

Sasuke winced as he heard his brother screaming (screaming in a manly manner of course) as their mother descended upon him with the frying pan.

"Mum! Stop it! I have a hangover!"  
"Don't you lie to me young man! I know for a fact you haven't once drunk any sake in your life!"  
"But it's the truth! Ask Ayame! Ow- stopp hitting my head with that thing! I knew I should have stayed with Ayame…"  
"Ayame? The ramen maker's daughter? Why would you be staying with her?""Oh crap…"

There was a high-pitched squeal.

"Am I hearing this correctly?!"  
"Err…"  
"Itachi…" Mikoto growled, no doubt raising her frying pan threateningly.

"Fine, yes. Will you get rid of the frying pan no-"  
"Thank god for that! I was beginning to think you were asexual!"  
"MOTHER!"

"Being gay I'd be able to handle, but asexual? I'd think I'd raised you wrong somewhere… Oh, thank god!"  
"Mum! Get off me, I have a headache…"  
"What did I say about lying to me young man?!"

His father, who now stood in his doorway, had an experssion on his face that told his youngest son that while he sympathised with his eldest, he would rather eat bugs than offer to trade places.

"You have a meeting with your team at 12PM." his father informed him before dissapering as quickly as he had appeared.

'_I should be there for about 3PM then…'_ he thought to himself, slightly dazed by the influx of so much new information. Naruto and Sakura were equally suprised when they discovered his loss of memory. They calmed down, howeve,r when Kakashi informed them it was likely a delayed reaction to Haku's senbon attack.

It had been a bit of a mess when Sakura had inadvertently asked Naruto if he had ever spoken to the Kyuubi (involving one fireball, a suspiciously familiar looking cat, and the roof of the Uchiha complex) but it was soon smoothed over.

Considering the fact he had lost almost three weeks worth of memories, Sasuke decided to wait until for a while before he informed his teammates of the upcoming addition to his family.

* * *

--TWO MONTHS LATER--

Ino grumbled under her breath as once again, her improvised technique failed. She was currently trying to posses the mind of one of her clans hedgehogs without leaving her body vulnerable to attack. She was not succeeding.

Really, this wouldn't be so much of a problem if she could use some other techniques than her academy ones. But other then substitution and transformations, the academy didn't teach much else. She wasn't any where near the mental level required for the Mind-Body disturbance technique, and because of a stupid traditoin she couldn't sign the hedgehog contract until she had mastered the aforementioned technique.

So other than her kunai and significantly lacking physical techniques, all she had was her mind transfer technique. The one that mad her body go into a coma while she was thus, we find the problem. The mind transfer technique definitely had benefits, but it had many disadvantages.  
Turning her body into a breathing lump of flesh with no consciousness was one of them.

That being said, she wasn't having much luck trying to rectify the problem. Shed tried leaving part of her consciousness behind, but all that she had acomplished with that was a particularly nasty headache for a few hours. She'd tried forming a chakra link but she dint nearly have enough chakra to use in combination, or enough control.

Ino desperately wanted to screech and pull her hair out. Unfortunately, that would have the deranged little animal she was using as target practice humiliating her for weeks (the young animal wasn't keen on being used for target practice).

She was considering trying the conciousness-splitting again when Asuma called for a team meeting. She silently thanked him for the interuuption as she made her way towards the tree base he watched them from.

- - - - - - - - - -

Naruto was leaning against one of the tree stumps in training ground seven, pouring over a large scroll.

Sakura was some distance away, flipping through a few scrolls of her own accompanied by a bucket that seemed to have fish in it. Judging from the scrolls, she was supposed to be healing the fish. At the moment she had more dead ones than living, but she seemed to be improving.

Further still was Sasuke, who was holding his right wrist in his left hand, apparently glaring at it. Well, he was supposed to be mastering the first stage of one of Kakashi's techniques but it wasn't really working; hence the glaring.

At the moment, Naruto was focusing on a way to improve his shaddow clone technique. After some serious consideration, he had realised that it was really his only technique. That was no good. Sasuke had already started his training for his second natural affinity. It simply would not do to be left behind. Luckily, Kakashi had started teaching him something called the rasengan, but he wasn't having as much luck as Sasuke was having with that bird-thingy-technique.

Trying (re: failing.) to burst a water balloon with chakra got boring very quickly. That was why he now had the section on shadow clones from the forbidden scroll on his lap. If he only had one (mastered) technique for the moment, the least he could do would be to improve it.

Well, that was supposed to be the plan, he was having some trouble deciphering the spidery hieroglyphics that were supposed to be kanji. If his reading was correct, then to form the type of clone he was currently studying, he would have to eat someone hand for the technique to be effective…

Naruto seriously hated kanji at the moment.

Before he could tear the dammed scroll into thousands of tiny pieces, Kakashi turned up spouting some other garbage excuse for being late. Deciding to work on the scroll later, he ran over to join his equally frustrated team-mates.

"Hello gremlins! How's the training going?" their teacher asked. Sasuke actually _hissed_ at the poor man (which, incidentally, scared the bejeebers out of him). Naruto ignored Kakashi, instead giving Sasuke a _'who the hell are you'_ look. Sakura glared at their teacher.

Kakashi ignored all of them.

"I suppose you've been wondering why I've been training you so hard lately?" he asked, still smiling through his mask.  
The three Genin continued to glare.

- - - - - - - - - -

"You brats suck! You'll never get through the Chunin exams at this level! I can personally guarantee that!" Shino's crazy purple-haired teacher yelled at her charges after a particularly gruelling training session involving what he had dubbed 'kunai-tag'.  
Hinata seemed to be in a mild state of shock, and Kiba was trying to subtly hide behind him.

"What exams?" his brown haired companion asked suspiciously.

Anko gave them all a sadistic looking grin and Hinata whimpered before fainting.

"Hinata!"  
"Oh for the love of… WAKE UP!"

Shino massaged his temples as his bugs sent him reassuring messages of comfort.

- - - - - - - - - -

"The what?" Ino asked bluntly. Shikamaru groaned mumbling words sounding suspiciously like_ 'troublesome'_ and _'pain in the ass'_. Choji gave his teacher his complete attention - bar his munching.

"The Chunin exams." Asuma clarified. "They're a series of tests which, if you pass them, put you in line for promotion to Chunin."

"Fuck, I knew this would be something problematic" Shikamaru grumbled.

"Eeeehhhh?!" Choji dropped his crisps.  
"But Asuma-Sensei! Were nowhere near Chunin level!" Ino protested.

"I know" Asuma stated calmly. "That's why I've been working your noses to the grindstone."

"Why on earth would you nominate us for Chunin in the first place?" Shikamaru drawled out, apparently confused. Choji and Ino looked up at him expectantly.

"Never mind why, I'm just telling you so you'll be able to tell your parents why you're going to come back half dead tomorrow." he said, lighting up a cigarette.

Ino and Choji paled. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as his teacher grumbled to himself.  
He was almost positive he heard him mumbling suspiciously sounding like _'…stupid Kakashi…'_

- - - - - - - - - -

"Why on earth did you do that?! Hinata has enough problems standing up! Why do we even need a promotion? I don't even want to be a Chunin yet!" Kiba protested. Shino nodded in agreement. Hinata, who had by now recovered, shuffled her feet and poked her fingers together nervously.

"Because I refuse to loose to that damn Kakashi! Believe me, when I say you're nowhere near Chunin material, you are nowhere damn near Chunin material. Unfortunately Kakashi thinks his brats are and I REFUSE to loose to that damnable perv!" Anko all but screeched.

Kiba stared at her.

"You're risking our lives for the sake of your pride?!"  
"Pretty much Mutt."

She tuned her gaze to her female student.

"And as for you Miss White-Eyes, you and I are going have a nice long chat" she said, a gleam entering her eyes. She grabbed Hinata by her wrist with enough force to make her move, but not enough to cause any proper damage.

"You and the Bug-Boy can go home, Mutt!" Anko called as she wandered away from the training grounds with their female team-mate. Shino twitched at his new nick-name.

"Hinata! Be brave! We'll rescue you eventually!"  
"Be careful Hinata. Anko is…" Shino trailed off.  
"Shino did you say something?"

Shino twitched.

- - - - - - - - - -

"So if we pass these exams, we don't have to waste time waiting for you to show up anymore?" Sasuke asked, eyes glimmering with hope. Kakashi nodded, inwardly wondering why the Uchihas were so obsessed with their schedules.

"We won't have to put up with the weird nicknames?" Sakura asked, perking up at the nodded again.

"We'll be able to pick out own missions? Any ones we want? Can we ask for paid leave?" Naruto asked, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. If he could get promoted, he'd be able to request any missions that may be linked to his mother…

Kakashi resisted the urge to give him a knowing look and nodded again. His three Genin said nothing for a few moments, as if waiting for him to tell them it was all a joke before they attacked.

"How the hell do I get lightning activation again Cyclops?!"

"Give me an Illusion scroll to work off for when I get past the fish!"  
"What am I supposed to do with the water balloon?! And what does all this kanji mean?!"

* * *

Another two months passed, and in those months Kakashi found himself frequently spending his evenings at the memorial stone, imploring his long dead Sensei for guidance. After all this was over he was never taking a Genin team again.

Never.

He had taken to camping out by the memorial stone at one point when the gremlins realised if they woke him themselves, they could train for longer. They didn't give him a chance to be late. After he moved in next to the memorial stone they even kidnapped his porn books and threatened them with pain and suffering if he was so much as a minuet late.

Normally he wouldn't take this seriously, but when he saw Naruto fanning a small fireball balanced just above Sasuke's palm with an electric fan and their pink-haired team-mate holding his precious novel at arms length with fire tongs as they explained this…

He had decided it would be better to visit the memorial after training time ended, just this once.

For some reason though, he didn't feel reassured when they handed his poor baby back to him. He could tell they had other plans for it…  
He just _knew_ they were going to come after it again.

In all honesty, it made him wonder how his own teacher had managed to put up with himself and his own teammates. Even after Oibito's death, he and Rin had made things needlessly complicated on a regular basis,

Despite Kakashi's troubles, however, team 7 had made a lot of progress from the tree climbing exercises in wave country.

Sakura, fueled by a desire to catch up with her team-mates and be able to keep them out of harms way had spent the two months drastically improving her physical arts. While she still hadn't caught up to Naruto or Sasuke, she could still present enough of a challenge to them.

Noticing her almost too-perfect chakra control, Kakashi had given her several scrolls on illusions to work on, and she had eagerly lapped up the contents. Naruto and Sasuke had a new respect for their female comrade after she had reduced a normally stoic Kakashi to screams and tears for a few seconds before he broke out of her illusion.

When asked, she simply smiled and told them she'd shown him his worst nightmare.  
Sasuke began to wonder if turning her down was such a good idea afterall.

And of course, there was the medical had progressed to the point of being able to heal non-lethal gashes, and very minor injuries. Backed up with basic first aid, she showed potential for becoming a medical ninja in the future.

Sasuke had spent most of his training with the team working on the Chidori. He spent enough time training with his family's techniques that he didn't need to focus on anything else during team training. He hadn't quite mastered the first stage yet, but he was close. He had managed to draw out his lightning element enough for his fist to crackle with lightning for a few seconds, but not much further.

He seemed to be having trouble separating his two affinities, as his hand kept erupting in flames on odd occasion - resulting in a couple of nasty burns. Despite training with the Sharingan with his father, it stubbornly refused to advance to the second level, but his physical arts had drastically improved.

Such was his desperation for a normal schedule.

Naruto, proved to be a mystery to Kakashi. After he had dumbed down the excerpt on clones form the forbidden scroll, and given the blonde a few tips on mastering the first stage of the rasengan, he had all but disappeared.

Indeed, he had been so quiet, Sasuke had become paranoid he had been kidnapped and insisted they form a search party. He didn't seem to be remembering anything from his run in with his clan members four months ago (something the boy's father had informed him of), he just seemed to be genuinely paranoid.

They had ended up searching till 3AM until they found him, more by luck than management, hiding up the nose of the fourth Hokage on the Hokage monument religiously studying another part of the forbidden scroll. He had brought a dictionary along too.

Other than this, neither his team mates nor his teacher had any idea what Naruto had been up to for the past two months. Not even Ino could drag the information out of him, and she normally succeeded where others failed. When asked he simple grinned and told them it was a surprise.

* * *

"Well then, I think it's about time for me to be going. There would be no point to all those meetings if I didn't show up for my own invasion."  
"Are you sure you don't want any help?" the man's partner asked.

"No thank you. You'd kill all my test subjects before I got a chance to test anything on them; no offence intended, of course."  
"None taken kiddo. just be careful will you? I don't want to have to come rescue your ass again."  
"You worry too much. I have those Uchiha's and the Kazekage in the palm of my hand, what could go wrong?"

"You could get caught. That's what could go wrong."  
"Your'e such a pessimist."  
"It's called having a sense of caution; something which you lack."  
"Normal people call that pessimism"  
"Shut up kiddo"

* * *

Ino was in the kitchen of her family home making some rice balls. Shikamaru, Sasuke and Naruto were all outside using the private training grounds behind her house. Ever since he realised what a danger his pregnant mother was, Sasuke had made a point to spend as much time away from home as possible. He even stayed at Naruto's flat some nights despite his dislike of the mess.

Mikoto Uchiha was now eight months gone, and she was a very scary pregnant lady; Ino could hardly fault her friend for running away after seeing her a while back. Thus, the reason the boys had kidnapped her training area.

Shikamaru refused point blank to use his, since his father and sister consistently laughed at his attempts to master some sort of shaddow techniqe that made his shaddow strong enough to strangle someone. Shadow Strangle? No, it was something else.

Ino had insisted on going to get some food for them when Naruto collapsed in the middle of his training, whooping with delight.

Ino considered her own training as she stuffed dried bonito flakes into half of the rice balls. She had improved physically, but she was no closer to overconing the weak spot of the Mind Transfer Technique. She had succeeded in mastering the mind body disturbance technique, but had to wait untill next month before she could sign the hedehog contract.

Some sort of weird traditon about only doing it during the full moon for balance or something.

Despte her improvements however, the techniques obvious weaknesses bothered her. It was her most used technique other than her telepath and the Mind Frequeancy technique (she had finnaly found out the name of the thing), since the Mind-Body Disturbance used far too much chakra for her to use too often at the moment.

She grumbled to herself as she stuffed sukonbu into the remaining rice balls. She'd just have to make do with it for the time being.

She paced the food on a tray along with a lage bowl of cherry tomatoes and some instant ramen already containing hot water, and walked through the dinning area to the doorway leading to the traning area.

Naruto seeme to have regained his energy, and was jumping around like a mad thing again making an endless number of clones. She almost dropped the tray when one clone, far away from herself and the other two boys, exploded with a loud Bang.

A hazy mist seemed to surround the area that had bee scared by the explosion, and Naruto began to jump up and down again.

"It worked? IT WORKED! It worked! It worked! It worked!" he yelled enthusiastically.

"What the hell was that?!" Shikamaru asked, without raisng his voice. Naruto grinned and tapped his nose with one finger.  
Sasuke was staring at the spot where the clone had been standing.

"Y-You blew up! And you blew up twenty more of you!" he yelled at the blonde boy. Naruto stopped jumping up and down, seeing he couldn't get away without explaining something.  
"No I didn't. I only blew up one, and only a little bit."  
"Only a liitle bit?!" Ino shrieked. Shikamaru massaged his ears.  
"If you only blew up one of you, then where are the rest of your clones?" Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, ad then the smoke, befor e falling back to sleep mumbling:

"That'd save a lot of trouble…"

Naruto grinned at Shikamaru, not at all surprised he had figured out his trick.

"the others collapsed because of the smoke that was released when the original one exploded, or would have if they'd been real people. But because theyre clones, they just dispelled themselves." Naruto explained.

"wait, so the clone that exploded knocked them out?" Sasuke frowned, and Naruto nodded.

"that's what you've been doing for the past two months!" he cried out after a few moments rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  
"Well, not just that one. I've been working on a few others. I figured since it was my only technique I could just expand on it, like Ino's mind reading thingies and Shikamaru's shadows."

Sasuke smirked, impressed by Naruto's corruption of the shadow clone technique.

"So what else did you come up with?" he asked. Naruto however shook his head.  
"No way. I'm not using them till the Chunin exams."

Sasuke growled as Ino shrieked.

"That reminds me, I have a bone to pick with you two!"

"Oh god, she sounds like my mother…" sasuke whimpered.  
"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have to do this stupid exam!"  
"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"If Kakashi hadn't put your team down Asuma-Sensei wouldn't have put ours down!" Ino clarified, putting down the tray so she cpuld work on her physical arts.  
"I completely forgot about that! You two are so dead!" and enraged Shikamaru said, glaring.

Seeing a pissed of Ino and a wrath-induced Nara, The two members of team 7 did the only logical thing they could think of; they ran away as fast as their legs would carry them.

* * *

At that exact moment, two chunin were deeply involved in a game of Shogi. A blue haired man with a bandage across his nose and cheeks rubbed his temples in concentration, staring at the board in front of him.

"Hurry up and move Kotetsu!" his partner grumbled irritably.

"I'm concentrating Izumo! Besides, you can't rush Shogi! Didn't you ever listen to Shikaku-Sensei?"  
"Not when it involved Shogi." Izumo grumbled.

A shadow fell over the board as Kotetsu finally moved one of his rooks, resulting in a check mate.

"How the hell do you keep beating me?!" Izumo yelled in outrage.  
"Should have listened to Shikaku-Sensei, shouldn't you?" Kotetsu retorted, turning towards the source of the shadow with his pen and clipboard.

His jaw dropped at the sight of the white haired man.

"L-Lord Jiraiya!" he yelled in surprise, dropping his clipboard.  
"Eh?! What are you doing here?!" Izumo added, equally surprised.

The grin on the old mans face turned into a frown.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked in a pouty tone.

Kotetsu began to gawp in fish-like manner as his brain tried to think of a reply.

"What he means is... Err... We were under the impression you were travelling to.. Err… gain access to a wider research sample for your novels!" Kotetsu looked like he could have kiseed his friend as Jiraiya laughed gleefully at the response.

"well, the best food is always home cooking, and it looks like the best girls come from my home village!" he said, grinning lecherously.

Kotetsu and Izumo forced smiles onto their faces untill the man had signed in, and his back had disappeared into the crowd. As he turned down a street leading to the bathouses, the two chunin breathed a sigh of releif and slumped backwards into their chairs.

"That was the most terrifying experience of my life" Izumo stated. Kotetsu nodded in reply, praying the man's old team-mates would not suddenly pop up out of homesickness or some other feeble excuse.

"why couldn't he have just said lord Hokage summoned him back?" Izumo asked.  
"how am I supposed to know? Do I look insane to you?"

* * *

Ino sat net to Naruto wayching Shikamaru and Sasuke sparing. After watching Naruto's use of the shadow clone technique, she had found an idea forming in her mind hat may be the solution to the Mind Tranfer technique she was looking for.

"Naruto, do your clones have their own mind?" she asked.  
"Huh?"  
"I mean, do they think independently once you've made them?" she clarified.

"well, they have an idea of what I want them to do, but it's up to them as to how they get to that point unless I give them instructions. It's actually one of the things I was working on, but don't tell Sasuke that." he grinned at the last part of the sentence.

Ino nodded in was good information to have; it meant her idea had possibilities.  
Her only problem left was…

"How much chakra do they actually use?"

Naruto frowned in concentration.

"There isn't a set amount really, your chakra just gets divided between yourself and the clone so they're exactly half and half." he scratched his head as he wracked his brains for the information she was looking for.

"There's a mimimum amount required, but I couldn't tell you what it is since I've never needed to worry about it. The chakra that goes into them is just excess stuff that eneables them to use ninja techniques and illusions and stuff."

Ino filed this information away for future use. She didn't nearly have enough chakra to make a single shaddow clone at the moment, but she could improve that with time. Once she had enough for a clone and the Mind Transfer technique, she could begin experimenting.

If this all worked out, then she may have just found the solution for one of her clans pet-peeves.

* * *

"Rin! Rin!" Kushina called to her sister as she entered the hotel suite they were staying in. Instead of Rin, she found her niece sitting on the floor surrounded by scrolls and books on medical techniques.

"Karin, where's your mother?" Karin looked up from the scroll she had burried her nose in.

"she went out to stock up on kunai. We ran out when we fought of those ninja's that come from that country with all the ravines on the edge of lightning country." she clarified, giving the blonde girl behind her Aunt a curious look.

She was young, perhaps around nineteen. Her hair was a bright yellow and tied up on either side of her head in messy pig-tails, and her eyes were a deep blue. She wore a red shirt that looked like the top half of a battle kimono that stopped just above her stomach and a mesh vest. Over a pair of mesh shorts, she wore a brown medic-apron like her mother's, and she had calf length ninja sandals with open toes.

Straped to her back with a length of chain, were three large Shuriken of different shapes, in decreasing sizes.  
She looked familiar for some reason…

"Aunty K, who's the blonde lady?" Karin asked bluntly.

Kushina grinned.  
"Karin meet my step-daughter, and our contact, Morina Namikaze"

"Eh? Step-daughter?" Karin frowned before comprehension dawned. "I thought you looked familiar! You look exactly like Naruto and Uncle M!"

"Well duh, Naruto is my brother. Mama K, are you sure this girl is smart enough to be naruto's partner? I don't want my kid brother stuck with an idiot for a partner…" the new blonde asked the red-haired woman dubiously.

Karin's eyebrow twitched.  
'_I have to go undercover with this bitch?! No! No! Hell No!'

* * *

_

**_Ok, so apparentley I lied about the new charecter not being an OC. I swear that Narutopedia said Minato had an older daughter named morina at one point, but it doesn't anymore. __So I now have three OC's.  
Fantastic._**

**_I meant that sarcastically by the way. _**

**_I have an new laptop! It's pink and a Sony and has a decent operating system, and I named it George II!  
I think it's going to develop identity issues from that and retalliate by going crazy on me at some point, but it has been named._**

**_When is Naruto going to come kick some sense into Sasuchii? And I thought only Itachin could use Susooano?  
What is going on? _**

**_Other than that: Yaaay! ItaNaru meeting!_**

For those asking, yes I'm slightly behind on the Anime, but I'm catching up!

_**Keep Reading and Reviewing Sparrows!  
Natarii.  
xxx**  
**  
P.S.  
Reveiw, and iIll give you Yaoi!**  
_


	11. Memories: The Old And New

_**If I owned Naruto, Mandarin's head would be on a pole above Konoha for people to throw things at.  
**_

_

* * *

_

"Well duh, Naruto is my brother. Mama K, are you sure this girl is smart enough to be Naruto's partner? I don't want my kid brother stuck with an idiot for the rest of his life…"

_Karin's eyebrow twitched.  
_'_I have to go undercover with this bitch?! No! No! Hell No!'_

Kushina shrugged."She's a bit dense sometimes, but she's not an idiot. She has her father's brains" Karin's hand itched to hit something.  
Preferably with a kunai in her hand whilst she did so.

"But never mind that for now, we have more important things to discuss. Did you manage to infiltrate the base?"

Morina nodded.  
"It took forever, but I got in eventually. They're desperate for followers at the moment so it wasn't difficult."

"Really? I don't suppose you found out why?" Kushina asked the blonde girl.  
Said girl made a disgusted looking face.

"They're planning to invade Konoha and kidnap a whole load of people from the clans for use in experiments! They've been getting help from inside Konoha itself for a few years now. My guess is they'll attack during the Chunin exams"

Karin's eyes widened.  
"Aunty Kushina! Didn't baboon say tell you there were people in Konoha targeting Naruto in his last letter?"  
"I know what he said Karin! Finish that bone marrow technique or something. I'm trying to think and I can't concentrate when you're yelling…" she said exasperatedly.

"But they're the same people! The people who want to invade Konoha are working with the group of Uchihas!" Karin protested.

Kushina grinned  
"see? I told you she wasn't an idiot!" she said to Morina.  
Karin had a great deal of trouble suppressing her scream of frustration. Morina however, seemed to have forgotten all about the invasion.

"The Uchihas are plotting to _what?!" _She turned to glare at Kushina.

Her stepmother gulped. She probably should have told Morina that little bit of information earlier. She'd mentioned that there were still some of the old factions plotting against Konoha (which the blonde girl had confirmed), but she'd left the targeting-Naruto part out.

Damn it, hindsight could be such a bitch as times.

"Mama K, you'd better have a good explanation for not telling me this…"  


* * *

"You got my message then?" Sarutobi asked his quiet office. A chuckle could be heard outside, and the white-haired pony-tailed man climbed in through the open window. The third Hokage didn't bother to ask the whereabouts of his other two students. He hadn't really expected them to show up in the first place.

Instead, he chose to get right down to business.

"How's Kushina?" He asked, twirling round in his chair to face his student, who was now using the window-ledge as a seat.  
"She's developed a slight affection for Sake but that's about it. Still makes swearing an art form." came the reply.

"And Rin?"  
"About the same, she's better than Shizune at hiding sake though" Jiraiya chuckled. Sarutobi smiled.  
It was good to know they were alright.

However, there were more important things to discuss no matter how much he would rather not.

"What progress have they made?"  
"Oh boy… where do you want me to start? The good, the bad, or the depressing?" Jiraiya asked, making no move to be funny.  
"Let's start with the bad news and keep the depressing for last shall we?"

"Kushina discovered a plot to invade with Konoha. Well, Morina really, but it still isn't the best news to hear whoever's mouth it comes from"  
"I'll concur to that." Sarutobi muttered grimly "I don't suppose you've received any other details?"  
"Just that whoever's plotting this is working with those Uchihas that are giving you and the others such a headache"

Sarutobi groaned.

"I don't know whose plotting this, I have a few theories but…" his student left it hanging.  
"And the others?"

"They're keeping themselves to themselves. Just like Minato ordered. I sometimes wonder if he knew something we don't. Some of the laws he passed…" Sarutobi nodded. His successor had made some strange laws during his time; laws that were only taking affect thirteen years after his death.

"Karin has joined up with Morina in Oto. She'll be entering the exams with a team of other spies during the Chunin exams, Kushina will also be returning to make sure things go smoothly. I let you decide to tell Naruto about her or not."Sarutobi nodded.

"Any news on Deidara?" He asked.

Jiraiya snorted in disgust.  
"The idiot's gone and teamed up with _Zetsu_ of all people"  
"What?!_ Zetsu?_ But Deidara hated him more than the Hyuugas!"

"Well, not teamed up per say; he's joined the same organization as our favourite cannibal."  
"Organization…?"  
"I'll give you three guesses as to which one."

Sarutobi growled.  
"That idiot boy! I'd set Enma on him if I didn't think Koharu would skin me alive! What on earth is he thinking?!"

"What's this about Deidara?"The two men looked toward the door.  
An old man with glasses and a woman with a grey bun walked inside the room, closing the door behind them.

"Homura? Koharu?" Jiraiya asked, looking surprised. "God, you two look old!"  
The old woman whacked the back of his head with a fan that seemed to appear from no-where.

"Ow!"  
"What was that brat?"  
"Err… That a lovely kimono you're wearing?"

WHACK.

"Ow!"

"What are you doing here Jiraiya?" the old man named Homura asked. "I was under the impression you would not return to Konoha unless the need was dire."

Jiraiya stared at him in astonishment, before he then turned to give his old teacher an exasperated look.  
"You haven't told them?!"

Sarutobi avoided looking his student in the eyes and scratched his short beard absently  
."I may have forgotten to mention a few things… Chunin exam preparations and all…"  
"Old man, that's pathetic…"

"Told us what?" Koharu snapped, though if one looked closely the way her eyes flickered between the student and teacher and the hand that gripped her partners tightly revealed her panic. Koharu had some of the best instincts in the village, she was famed for them, and they were telling her that she was about to receive some very bad news.

"Where do I begin?" Sarutobi asked really should have told them about all this sooner.  
They had the right to know, and they were not his advisors for any old reason.

"Naruto finding out about the Kyuubi? Kushina's Sake addiction? The impending Invasion? Deidara's affiliation with a group of S-Class criminals? That Naruto's beginning to get nosey about Kushina's whereabouts? That there are remaining Uchiha Insurgents plotting to kill Naruto?"

Sarutobi glared at his student.

"Kushina got addicted to sak- Wait, never mind Kushina! Deidara did _what?!_" Koharu erupted.  
"Invasion? And whats this about the Uchihas?!"  


* * *

Sasuke was on his way back from Naruto's house. To be honest, he would rather stay at Naruto's house for the night instead of going home. His parents were seriously scaring him with their un-natural emotion and cooking abilities. Plus seeing his mother walking around (whenever he Itachi or his father allowed her to) looking like a balloon was kind of weird. It wasn't like she was too old to have a baby (she was thirty seven in four months), it was just weird.

She was his mother. It was just odd.

Plus he couldn't stomach the idea of more sweets. He _loathed_ sweets. Yet his mother was forcing them down his throat since this was the only time she could make cookies that tasted like cookies. His father had commented that they were almost as good as the ones made by someone he called _'Mrs N'_, whoever that was.

Itachi was lucky. He could stay with Ayame; their parents had practically pushed him out of the house, Mikoto squealing something about grandchildren. Sasuke deemed it prudent not to point out she was already having a kid of her own, that grandchildren might be a bit much for the time being, and that Itachi hadn't even married the girl yet. Their father, who shared his dislike of sweet things, has expressly told _him_ he would use his Fingers of Fire technique in the most painful place he could think of if he left him to suffer through meals alone.

Then again, Itachi had his own share of problems besides their parents; Teuchi.  
There had been a highly amusing incident a couple of months ago with the two.

He, Shikamaru, and Ino, were on their way to meet Naruto for their morning training session when they had came onto Ichiraku's street. They were almost at the ramen stand whne there was a huge clatter of pots and pans, before Itachi ran out of the shop in his boxers and mesh shirt. Behind him a very angry Teuchi brandished a soup ladel screaming blue murder: _'damn playboy Uchiha! Stay away from my little girl!'._

He hadn't laughed so much since he and Naruto had seen Shikamaru's face after they'd painted the Hokage monument when they were eight (it had been hilarious, though the lecture they received from his mother had been distinctly less so).

He was currently making his way through a short cut. It ran through the unused part of the district that bordered the old Namikaze training grounds. No-one had ever figured out where the actuall clan district was, but their old training area was close to his own.

The Uchiha compound was built around Lake Konoha, The Akimichi had a piece of land behind the Hokage monuments, the Naras had a few houses on the ground, but most were built in tree houses in the forest they managed, and the Yamanakas has land close to the Akimichis but close to the pastoral area outside the village instead of the Hokage monuments.

He wasn't sure about the Inuzukas, Aburames, and he mad it a point to avoid the Hyuuga clan, but he had no idea where the Namikaze clan had lived, he just new the old district came close to their old training grounds.

Apparently there had been a huge uprising in the Uchiha clan shortly before the Kyuubi attack that was half responsible for the end of the Wind Clan; All the clan members involved had either been imprisoned or executed for treachery, and people had avoided the area since. The older members of the clan said it was a _'bad luck area'_ and any Uchiha worth their salt would stay away from the area. Sasuke understood the stigma, but he wasn't going to risk his father's wrath by taking the long route and be ten minuets late for dinner.

As he walked through the area, he felt a strange sense of familiarity come over him. Like when his mother had told him she was pregnant four moths ago. For some reason it had felt like it wasn't the first time he'd heard the information. He knew it had something to do with thet story about losing his memories after being hit on the head training with Itachi. That was a load of crap. He'd been hit on the head training with his brother hundreds of times before, and he'd never lost any memories before.  
Let alone almost a month's worth of them.

Then again, he could be just being paranoid about it all… Right?

"_So were agreed? If we fail to kill Uzumaki during the Chunin exams, we forget about secrecy. We just go after the kid with all we have."_

Sasuke froze._'What on earth-'_ his thoughts were interrupted by a shrill, piercing, high-pitched whistling noise that echoed through his head. He clutched his head and fell to his knees. It felt like his head was on fire, like his brain was being gouged out of his skull.

By some miracle, he managed to keep any vocal outcry to hisses or heavy breathing. He curled up against the wall of the nearest building, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. The screeching was getting louder, and it was taking all his self control not to cry out.  
'_What on earth is this…?'_

The screeching reached its highest note yet, and then it was gone. Sasuke had a few moments to regain his bearings before he was inundated with a flood of forgotten words and images.

_- - - - - - - - - - _

"_None of my business? Idiot! You are my best friend, even if I never say it! You know that! Of course it's my business if something weird is going on with you! This is because of Mizuki isn't it? This is to do with what he told you isn't it?!"_

_- - - - - - - - - - _

"_Fine. Short version; fourth could not kill the Kyuubi so he used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and two Four Symbols Seals to form an Eight Trigrams Sealing Style to stick the Kyuubi inside me instead. Mizuki tricked me into stealing the forbidden scroll and told me when he went all crazy-villain on Iruka and me. End of story." his mouth rattled robotically._

_Sasuke was surprised Naruto knew the names of the seals. Then again, the Hokage must have told him. But why bother?_

"_Because I like sealing techniques bastard. You already know that." _

_- - - - - - - - - - _

"_Naruto isn't immune to that chakra Sasuke; He's worse off for it. You've seen what happened to you and you were only close by for about five minuets. Naruto is constantly exposed to it. __He's recovering from the repercussions of using the fox's chakra now, but the Kyuubi doesn't seem to be speeding it along like normal. I suspect it realizes it wouldn't be beneficial to do so right now."_

"_What does he mean Sasuke?"  
_"_He means that healing is just as bad as the Kyuubi chakra. Cells can only regenerate so much before they die completely, and the Kyuubi forcibly hastens Naruto's regeneration rate."_

_- - - - - - - - - - _

"_Pardon?" Sasuke asked, not hearing his brother's mumble.  
"Mum's pregnant." Itachi stated bluntly; he then proceeded to pass out on the wooden counter of Ichiraku Ramen._

_- - - - - - - - - - _

"_I understand your fears, but if this is the case - and you are most likely right - then we just have to kill the Kyuubi brat before he can get his mitts on him."_

_- - - - - - - - - - _

'_The fourth Kyuubi sealed the Hokage in Naruto! __Fucking hell! No wonder he lets Naruto hang around here so much! He's his team-mate's son! This explains so much…'_

- - - - - - - - - -

_As his vision darkened and his eyelids drooped he looked up at his hostage taker. He couldn't make out his face but for an instant he recognized the voice.  
_"_Sorry Sasuke, but you are ready for that information just yet"_

_- - - - - - - - - -_

Sasuke collapsed to the overgrown dirt path as the barrage of memories abruptly halted. Urgh.  
He had such a headache.

Well, at least he knew the story about loosing his memory during training had been a lad of bull for definite now. Itachi had knocked him out. They'd probably had Inochi erase them, or put a block on them or something similar. Had hearing the same voice again acted like a key, unlocking his memories from the block's repressive abilities? He could ponder that later, right now he had to talk to his father.

He didn't suspect his father or brother to be involved the plot. No way was that going to happen; Naruto was the son of his father's just didn't want him nosing around what was obviously something _big_. But at the moment Sasuke could care less about why they had erased his memories; He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.  


* * *

Jiraiya was seated on the roof of a Sake house. It was directly opposite the window of Naruto's little flat; perfect for observing. The boy didn't seem to be acting oddly (in terms of his mothers _'dissapearence'_ at any rate) but then again…

The black haired kid, probably Fugaku's kid, had left a while ago complaining about sweets being forced down his mouth at home. About half an hour later, a pink haired girl had shown up. Unless he was very much mistaken she was Moriko's daughter. Naruto's other companions included Inochi's daughter (who seemed to even more stubborn than her father at times), and two siblings he suspected were Shikaku's son and daughter.

The five of them were all involved in some sort of game involving a bottle.  
It seemed like a dare game he'd played in his own youth, but the bottle was a new adittion.

"_I dare Ino to kiss Naruto!"  
"W-What?!""Eh?!"  
"…Eewww! No! I dun' wanna watch Big Sis Ino and Big Brother 'Ruto doing that! Yech!"  
"All this yelling is giving me a headache… What a pain…"_

Jiraiya chuckled at the reaction of the two blondes.

The Yamanaka girl… Iko… Iro? Ino!She seemed to have turned into a pile of jelly from her friends order. Naruto was bright red in the face, but he suspected that was because he was a strict prude. Minato had been exactly the same - until he was married at least - but naruto resembled his old student in looks more than personality. His mother had been more influential there, if the swearing was anything to go by.

Then again both his parents had been loud (though Kushina tended to be loud on a regular basis - Minato had been fairly calm unless severely rattled) and stubborn, so the swearing was the only thing he had to go on till he got to know the boy a bit better.  
Something he had every intention of doing.

"It's like looking in a mirror isn't it?" a familiar voice from behind him asked. He had been standing there for some time, simply watching like he was. Jiraiya had ignored him since he presented no threat. If he wanted to talk, he would talk. The masked Jonin took his own seat next to Jiraiya, and Jiraiya finally got a look at his companion.

"Kakashi?" he was surprised to see him. Last time he had seen the kid, he'd been eighteen, and running around like a headless chicken after finding a note from his wife (Young to be married nowadays, but not during the era of war). His student's student sat down next to him and pulled out a familiar looking orange book.

"I've had to stop myself calling him Minato once or twice." he said, his eyes not leaving the book's pages. Jiraiya chucked.  
"I can imagine. Especially with all that blasted orange" Jiraiya replied. Minato hadn't dressed so vividly when on a job, but during his time off he'd preferred brighter colours - particularly red and orange.

"he swears as well as his mother" Kakashi added. Jiraiya laughed again, and turned his gaze back to the window. The blonde girl seemed to have worked up the confidence (since when did a _Yamanaka_ need confidence?) to give her fellow blonde a peck on the cheek.

After a few more moments silence, Kakashi decided to speak up again.  
"How are Rin and Karin doing?"  


* * *

"I dare Ino to kiss Naruto!" Sakura said, a smirk directed towards her blonde friend.  
'_She'll be thanking me later! Naruto's never going to ask her out if she isn't more obvious! Even I can tell he's an idiot with romance!'_

Ino stared at Sakura for a few moments before the words finally sunk in.  
"W-What?!" She screeched. This was a set up! That stupid billboard head had been planning this from the beginning!

The reactions of her other companion's were fairly varied.  
"Eh?!" Nruto yelled, only slightly less louder than herself. His face had turned a bright cherry colour. If she wasn't so agitated herself she would have made fun of him for being a prude.

"…Eewww! No! I dun' wanna watch Big Sis Ino and Big Brother 'Ruto doing that! Yech!" Yoshiko wailed, tugging on the sleeve of her distinctly less interested older brother, perhaps thinking she could motivate him into preventing such a catastrophe.

"All this yelling is giving me a headache… What a pain…" Shikamaru grumbled. Instead of relinquishing to his sisters demands, he pulled her up onto his knee.  
"Sit and Stay." he said simply, as if talking to a small dog.

"Oh come on Ino! It's just a peck on the cheek!" Sakura complained, seeing the blond girl dithering back and forth over a simple kiss.  
What on earth had happened to her Yamanaka spunk?

"Sakura! Maybe you should change the dar-"  
"Shut up Naruto!" she snapped at her team-mate, before turning back to her friend.

"Geez Ino, I never thought you'd be such a coward over one measly kiss…" she taunted in an offhand manner. Ino's eyes flashed with anger.  
"What did you just call me?" she asked in a deathly quiet tone.

"You heard me!"  
'_Oops. Maybe calling her a coward was a bit much…'_

Ino glared at her for a few moments before plastering that annoying grin of hers on her face. The one she got when she was proven right, or things went according to her plans.  
"Hmm? So I'm a coward am I, Sakura?" she asked, apparently light-heartedly.

Sakura began to worry about whatever plan was cooking in Ino's mind. A glance to Shikamaru only intensified the feeling. He had a strange sort of bug-eyed look gracing his features. Clearly he had figured something out… She just wished she knew what!

Ino moved from her seat on one of the singular beanbags to sit beside Naruto on the bean-bag sofa, fire blazing I her eyes.  
"Tell me Sakura, if I'm such a coward would I be able to do this?" And with that she grabbed hold of Naruto's t-shirt and pulled his face towards her own, and gently smashed their lips together.

It was at that precise moment that Sasuke chose to brealk through the door.  
"My mum's gone into labour! Of all the times to- WHAT THE HELL?!"  


* * *

Sasuke glared at his father and brother.  
He was currently standing in his fathers office after bursting in a few seconds ago.

"I don't suppose either of you could tell me why there's a group of Uchiha's plotting to kill my best friend?" he hissed.

Fugaku dropped his calligraphy brush.

"What are you talking about Sasu-"  
"Don't play dumb with me!" Sasuke barked angrily. "I overheard everything. Not only that I regained the memories I lost during that supposed _'training session'_!"

He glared at his brother pointedly.  
"Next time you knock me out, be more careful will you? I couldn't move my head properly for about three weeks!"

"Sasuke calm dow-"  
"don't tell me to fucking calm down! You erased my memories! Do you have any idea how much other damage you did besides the obvious? I almost had a heart attack when Sakura asked Naruto if he could talk to the Kyuubi!"

"You know about that?" Fugaku asked, clearly surprised.  
"I found out during the mission to wave, the one you conveniently erased from my consciousness." Sasuke spat.

"How did your memories come back?" Itachi asked in a serious tone of voice. "Inochi made it so that only a strong trigger could remove the block."  
Sasuke mentally smirked; his suspicions had been correct about the trigger.

"I overheard the same people again on my way back from Naruto's." he replied in a much calmer, but no less irate, manner. "They decided that if they didn't get him during the Chunin exams, they'd stop trying to be so quiet about the whole thing." he grumbled.

Itachi frowned and Fugaku massaged his temples; he could feel a very large headache coning on.  
"I guess that would do it. I never expect you to run into the same thing twice…"

"Whatever. I have questions and I'd prefer it if you answered them instead of whacking me on the head with a kunai this time." Sasuke snapped. He knew he should calm down a bit, but he had every right to be mad.

"Ask away. No point in hiding it any more…" Fugaku replied wearily. Itachi looked fairly alarmed but said nothing.  
"Why do they want to kill Naruto? Because of the Kyuubi? Or because he's the son of your old team-mate: Minato Namikaze?"

Fugaku actually spluttered.  
Itachi looked between his father and brother with shock written across his face.

"Father, what's he talking about?"  
"How on earth did you find out about that? No-one is supposed to know that!"  
"Processing and analysis of information. Never mind how for now, just tell me why our own family members want him dead!" Sasuke yelled at his father.

Fugaku really didn't want to get Sasuke involved in all this, but he couldn't expect him to sit by quietly now that he knew so much. True, he didn't know everything, but he knew more than he was comfortable with. On the other side of the same coin, if he didn't tell Sasuke enough to satisfy him for the moment, he'd probably end up digging for the information with the Nara boy.

Damn, this was such a pain in the ass - in Shikaku's words.

"The Kyuubi is definitely a factor in their motive, but it isn't the main one." he stated in a manner that suggested he was much calmer than he actually appeared.  
"Then what is their motive?" asked a significantly calmer Sasuke. His oldest son, having heard nothing as to the actual reasons for neither the plots nor the matter of Naruto's heritage, was paying very close attention to the converstion.

"It's as you've already said Sasuke" Fugaku said with a frown. "because of his family."

There was a deathly silence as both his sons absorbed this information.

"So, Naruto really is the son of the fourth? He's a Namikaze?" Sasuke asked.  
"Yes."  
"I never heard anything to suggest such" Itachi said. "I did wonder occasionally, he's similar to Morina so…" he left it hanging. "However, I never found any significant evidence to be certain."

Sasuke briefly wondered who this Morina person was, but quickly pushed it aside when his father answered his brothers question.

"You weren't supposed to for this precise reason. The Uchihas and Namikaze's have always had a good relationship, but there were a number of us who were less keen to make friends. These people were dealing with now are the leftovers; they're smarter this time though, they've enlisted skilled hands to aid them." Fugaku grumbled the last part.

He was very knew what these people were plotting, but whoever they had teamed up with prevented them from gaining any evidence solid enough to support a frowned.

"That doesn't really explai-" They were interrupted by the crash of the sliding door being hastily pushed back.

"Lord Fugaku! Your wife has gone into labour, sir! Her water broke several minuets ago!" came the loud voice of a battered-looking Shisui (cousin to Itachi and Sasuke).

There was a stunned silence before Sasuke fled the room, barging past a surprised Shisui.  
"I'll tell Ayame and the others and meet you at the hospital!" he yelled as he ran down the hallway in the direction of the and Itachi were confused for a few moments before they realise what he had just done.

"You traitor!" Itachi yelled indignantly.  
"That little…"  
"Uh… am I missing something?" Shisui asked, confused.  


* * *

"How are Rin and Karin doing?" Jiraiya , who had been absorbed in spying on the interaction between Naruto and Ino like a hawk, started at the question. After regaining his bearings however, he fished out a letter from one of the pockets inside his overcoat.

"Karin is a complete and total hot-head. Nothing remotely like you or Rin except in her brains"Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"She developed a technique whereby she can heal others by letting them suck on her chakra. Ive never seen anything like that since Deidara, still not perfect mind, but it definitely has possibilities…" the hermit explained. Kakashi gave the man a look that said: _'I-may-be-a-pervert-but-touch-my-daughter-and-I'll-stick-a-Chidori-thousan-years-of-pain-combo-on-you'_

Jiraiya edged away from the man slightly.  
"Oi, calm down. I'm no Paedophile you moron. You'd be better of giving that glare to Orochimaru… I swear, sometimes that man makes me wonder…" Jiraiya was lost in nostalgia for a few moments before Kakashi's voce brought him back to the current day.

"As long as she can look after herself when needed and can keep Naruto in line when they meet, I could care less even if she swears like a fisherwoman"

Jiraiya smiled weakly.  
'_Thank god for that. Kushina had quite the influence on her…'_

"Tell me Sakura, if I'm such a coward would I be able to do this?"  
"My mum's gone into labour! Of all the times to- WHAT THE HELL?!"  


* * *

Sasuke stared at the scene in front of him with wide eyes. Unless he was very much mistaken, Ino was mouth-raping his best friend somewhat.  
_'Oh for the love of… why is everything happening NOW?!'_

Ino seemed to have noticed his presence and jumped off of a slightly dazed Naruto.  
"S-S-Sasuke! W-What are you doing here?!"

Sakura and Shikamaru jerked their gazes towards the door. Apparentley they had been just as surprised as he had. Though that was nothing compared to Naruto. The idiot hadn't moved once since Ino had released him from her harpy-like clutches. Sasuke really did feel sorry for him.

He somehow got the feeling that, had Ino been one of his fan-girls, he would never have heard the end of it. He could actually visualise her stalking him. The only reason she didn't do so with Naruto was because they knew each other so well; stalking was not required.

"My mum just went into labour…" he said, a great deal calmer than he had the first time.  
He was still a bit dazed himself, though the only sign of him being so was his calmer manner.

"What are you all standing there for? Move! Hospital! Now!" Naruto yelled. Apparentley he had regained his bearings enough to jerk everyone else out of their stupor. There was a few yells of panic before they all tried to dash out of the door at the same time.

"Owwie! Big Bro Sasu-Gay! You Squisherd me!"  
"Shika! What on earth have you been telling her? My name is _NOT SASUGAY!"  
_"What are you looking at me for?! Blame the Idiot!"

"Don't call Naruto an Idiot Shika! It's not his fault Yoshiko is easily imprssionab- Yeek! Whose hand was that?!"  
"Oops. Sorry Ino! Naruto move it!"  
"I can't Sakura! Sasuke's leg is in the way! MOVE IT BOTTOM BOY!"

"I'm not gay you stupid Fishcake!"  
"Bastard!""Idiot!"  
"Oh, hell no! We don't have the time for one of your lover's quarrels! We have to get the hospital!"

"Shut up you Banshee-Limpet-Pig!"  
"You shut up Lord Rainbow!"  
"Owwie! Big sis Sakura! Sumthin's poking me!"

"Sasuke calm down!"  
"Don't defend her you moron! She was mouth raping you!"  
"Only because I dared her!"  
"You mean that was _your_ doing?!"

"EVERYONE BE QUIET BEFORE I USE MY SHADOW TO MAKE YOU SHUT UP!"

_

* * *

  
_After a great deal of pushing, shoving, yelling, screaming, poking, and screeching, the six Genin finally made it out of Naruto's door. After a brief return to lock said door, a stop at Shikamaru's to drop of Yoshiko, and a side trip to Ichiraku's to call on Ayame, they eventually arrived at the hospital.

If Fugaku and Itachi were in anyway worried of curious about their bedraggled state (which they were) they made the wise decision not to mention it. Now that all the drama had been dealt with, Naruto found himself doing his utmost to avoid Ino out of sheer embarrassment.

_'I can't believe she did that! She's my friend!'_ He wailed to himself.  
_'Then why did you enjoy it, stupid human brat?'_

…Oh hell no!

_'Shut up you deranged fur ball! I'm not listening to you!'  
'You enjoyed it. Stop your worrying, by giving yourself a migraine you give me one and I do not want a migraine.'  
'Since when do foxes even have migraines? No, wait, since when do I even talk to you in the first place?! You're a demon! It's your fault I killed Haku!'  
'Oh no… don't blame me for that human, you drew on my chakra all by yourself! Don't blame me if you can't control it!'  
'I can't believe I'm even having this conversation…'_

Sakura, who had somehow ended up sandwiched between Naruto and her best friend, gave her team mate a worried look. At fist she'd thought he was just embarrassed, but now he was actually talking to himself. Deciding to make sure he wasn't going crazy, she poked his shoulder to catch his attention.

"Naruto? Are you alrig-"  
"I could care less about giving you a migraine you stupid deranged Furball! And so what if I liked it? It's none of you business in the first place! This all part of your secret plan to escape! I know it!"

Sakura's eyebrow he talking to the Kyuubi? No. That was impossible. Naruto had told her so himself a few months around she noticed the others were also giving the blonde some strange looks. Sasuke in particular looked slightly scared.  
'_Not that I can blame him. The last thing he needs is Naruto going crazy on him'_

"Oi, idiot, who are yo-"  
"Don't play stuck in my gut card with me mister fluffy! It's still none of your business!"  
"FISHCAKE!"

Naruto jerked out of his conversation with the fox to find Sasuke standing in front of him. He was looking at him as if he had just confessed his love for him (despite teasing, Naruto _was _aware that his friend was straighter than a pole).

"What bottom boy?" he asked.  
"You were arguing with yourself…"  
"No I wasn't."Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.  
"Idiot, they probably heard you in the morgue."  
"I wasn't talking to myself!"

"Who were you talking to then? The Ramen Faerie?"  
"No, the Furball, and you made an offering to the Ramen Faeries as well!"Sasuke would have blushed, had he not been too focused on what Naruto had just told him.  
"When you say fur ball, you mean the…" he gave Naruto's stomach a significant look. Naruto caught this and covered his stomach with his arms protectively.

"If you know what I mean then stop perving on me bastard!"

For once, Sasuke ignored Naruto's baiting.  
"You were arguing with the… furball?" he asked, disbelievingly.  
"Yes."  
"About Ino mouth-raping you?"  
"Ye- NO!" Sasuke stared at him for a few more moments before he slumped down into the seat next to the blonde and hung his head in his hands.

"I can't handle all of this… I seriously can't deal with this… have to rearrange my schedule to dealing with all of this…" He mumbled to himself. Sensing his friends distress (despite not being entirely certain as to the cause) Naruto awkwardly patted Sasuke on the head like he would with spike (sort of. You couldn't really pat a hedgehog on the head).

"There there."

* * *

As all this was happening, Sakura had entered conversation with Sasuke's older brother. She was doing her best to reassure him they were not going to be attacked by Iwa ninja in Ayame's place. The oldest of the soon to be three siblings was surprisingly pessimistic.

He was another one who was starting to talk to himself; something about a Morina person kicking all the Iwa ninja to hell and back.

Sakura wasn't too sure what to do other than reassure him that the Iwa ninja wouldn't attack them for fear of breaking their shaky treaty with Suna. Suna were well established allies with Konoha, so attacking them at the precise moment his mother gave birth would be a bad idea.

Not to mention the hell the rest of the Uchiha clan would put them through if the laid so much as one finger on their Clan Leader's wife. After a lot of persuading, Itachi seemed to believe her somewhat. Though he still seemed a bit dubious.

Ayame had taken on a similar role with Fugaku. He had been thrown out of the delivery room almost as soon as he'd set foot in it.

'_As good a clan leader you are dear, you're noting but a hindrance when I'm giving birth'_ Mikoto had told him half kindly, half snappish. She seemed to be right though; Fugaku kept going looking for coffee and sugar stating his wife would need all the energy she could get.

Shikamaru was doing the same thing for Ino, much to his annoyance.

"If you knew it would upset you so much then why did you bother in the first place?" he asked. Ino was seriously confusing him with all her _'female-man-worrying'_ as his father referred to such worrying as.

"Because Sakura called me a coward, and I am anything but a coward! Why on earth couldn't I have just swallowed my pride for once?!" She wailed, flailing her arms all over the place to vent her frustration.

'_Because you're a Yamanaka and you don't even know how to swallow your pride in the first place…'_ he thought to himself as he dodged her thrashing limbs.

"Oh god, I bet he hates me now! Sasuke's right, I am a banshee-limpet-pig!" she cried into the shoulder she was now using as a 'tear-absorber'. "H-he probably things I'm a horrible mouth-rapist" she sobbed. Shikamaru wasn't sure whether agreeing would be a good idea or not. He'd made it a point to avoid this sort of situation. For all his genius, he had no idea how to comfort the girl.

"Don't worry so much Ino…" he patted her on the back awkwardly. "You're over reacting. You just… caught him by surprise is all. He'll be back to normal in no time."  
"R-Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"  
"Course not."

'_Well, yes I am but… oh for the love of all that is holy, why am I the one stuck doing this?!'  
_

* * *

****

*Snickers*  
I love torturing them all.

I dunno when the next update will be, I'm swamped with college work.  
A close reading paper and an essay every week! Higher English is hell!  
Unfortunatley, it is also a requirement.  
I will do my best however!

Please keep reading, I found a solutiobn to my OC problem now!!  
Much love, Natarii  
xxx


	12. It Begins

**_I'm running out of ways to poke fun at Mandarin and make the words 'I dont own Naruto' more interesting._**

* * *

"_Don't worry so much Ino…" he patted her on the back awkwardly. "You're over reacting. You just… caught him by surprise is all He'll be back to normal in no time."_  
"_R-Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"  
"Course not."_

'_Well, yes I am but… oh for the love of all that is holy, why am I the one stuck doing this?!'_

"Kakashi! Jiraiya-Sensei!" Fugaku cried, gathering everyone's attention. There were very few people Fugaku would deem worthy enough for an Honorific.

"Yo Emo-Brat!" The white-haired man greeted, striking one of the most ridiculous poses Naruto had ever seen. Fugaku frowned slightly but mad no other gesture to suggest he was embarrassed by the nickname.

"How's the wife?" The man asked.  
"In pain most likely…" Fugaku grumbled. He already seemed to be loosing his patience with the man.  
"This is your Third isn't it?"  
"Yes."

"Good, now introduce me to the other one. I only remember Itachi, and he was only five when I last saw him"Fugaku sighed in resignation before walking over to where Naruto sat with Sasuke, accompanied by the eccentric old man.

"Jiraiya-Sensei, this is… was my youngest. Sasuke, this is my old Jonin Sensei, Jiraiya."  
Sasuke ignored him, not moving his head from his hands. Fugaku turned to Naruto and raised an eyebrow as if to say _'__why is my son half-comatose?__'_

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  
"Sorry Mr. U, its kind of my fault. See, Ino_ 'mouth-raped'_ me, in Sasuke's words, and then I was arguing with the Furball - which for the record I didn't even think possible - and what with Mrs U. giving birth and all he sort of went…" struggling for an appropriate word, Naruto settled for making an explosion-noise.

Fugaku stared at him blankly for a few moments.  
"I see, well I guess I can introduce you instead. Jiraiya-Sensei, this Is Naruto Uzumaki. He's Sasuke's team-mate.

Jiraiya gave him an appraising look.

"He's a shrimp. He looks like he can't even read…"  
Naruto's eyebrow twitched.

"Take that back! My reading problems are none of your beeswax! And stop checking me out like that you perverted old man!"  
"I'm not into men you little brat!" the man exploded.  
"Uh-huh, sure. I completely and totally believe you pervy hermit."

"No you don't! And don't call me pervy hermit! That's Lord Jiraiya to you!"  
"Pervy Hermit, I don't even use that with the Hokage. What makes you think I'm going to give you the honour? You have leaves sticking out of your hair…"  
"I said not to call me that damn it!"

"Pervy Hermit"  
"Brat!"

* * *

Fugaku would have kissed the nurse who came into the hallway had he not been happily married.

"Mr Uchiha?" she asked. Several heads jerked towards Fugaku. Said Uchiha turned towards the nurse.

"Yes?"  
"You can visit your wife now sir. The delivery went well, so there isn't anything for you to worry about. I would ask that you keep the number of visitors to a minimum however…" the nurse gave the clogged hallway a disapproving look. "Your wife is tired and she does need her rest."

"The baby?" he asked. Sasuke strained their ears, but refrained from joining their father. They knew better than to interrupt him whilst speaking about anything pertaining to their mother's health. Never let it be said that Fugaku Uchiha was an uncaring man.

"You have a perfectly healthy baby girl sir." the nurse smiled.  
Fugaku breathed a sigh of relief.  
_'Thank god for that. I'd never have heard the end of it if she'd had another boy…'_

Fugaku thanked the nurse, and hurried into the delivery room. A few moments later they heard Mikoto's loud squeal of delight: "oh look at her Fugaku! Isn't she adorable? She has your glare already! The boys didn't have that for a few days!"

Sasuke and Itachi sighed at their mothers antics.  
Wasn't she supposed to be tired?

"I guess that means we have a baby sister, doesn't it?" Sasuke asked half-rhetorically.  
"Most likely." Itachi replied.

A few more minuets passed before Mikoto dulcet tones were heard once again: "Oh gods! I forgot about Sasuke and Itachi! Come on Fugaku!"

There were several grumbles of protest form her husband.  
"Don't be such a ninny Fugaku! I'm not staying in this hospital all night even if you have to carry me back to the compound! You know I don't like hospitals! Besides, I've done this before!"

Jiraiya chuckled.  
"Good old Mikoto…"  
Sasuke and Itachi glared at the man but were prevented from saying anything by their mothers arrival.

She leaned on her husbands arm for support (likely at his insitence), and carried a small bundle with her free arm. She was positively glowing with pride and happiness. Almost immediately upon entering the waiting area, she dashed towards her two sons.

"Look! Look! Isn't she adorable?" she squealed for the second time that night.

"She looks like Sasuke" Itachi noted.  
"Well he takes after me, so I guess this little one does too." Mikoto clarified before blowing a raspberry towards her new baby. Sasuke stared at his baby sister fore some time.  
She stared right back before yawning once and falling asleep. Sasuke twitched.  
_'That little…!'_

He barley noticed his mother going giddy upon sight of the old man Naruto kept calling _'Pervy Hermit' _until his father scolded her for jumping around so much. Once again, Mikoto told him to stop being such a ninny.

* * *

The next day signalled the beginning of the Chunin exams. Naruto and Sakura met up with Sasuke outside the entrance to the compound on their way to the Academy. There was a small run in with a team from Suna, but they soon found themselves waiting outside the academy, waiting for the doors to open for the testing to begin. As they waited, Naruto's thoughts flew back to the meeting with the Suna team. The red-headed boy struck some sort of chord with him, but he had no idea which one it was. For one thing, the kid was down right creepy.

He brushed off the oddly depressing thoughts, and instead recalled the events of the previous night. He somewhat understood why Sasuke had entered a half-comatose state the night before.

He felt like everything was happening at once.

Ino kissing him had definitely been a surprise. Even more surprising was the fact that he had enjoyed it, in fact he wouldn't mind doing it again. That was a problem. Naruto was not stupid, or at least not completely dense. Given the time he could be very perceptive sometimes. After a lot of serious thinking and memory shuffling, he had realised he had long since gotten over his crush on Sakura.

He had also come to the conclusion it had been replaced by one on Ino.  
And therein lay the problem.

Ino was his friend. Friends do not develop crushes on other friends. Look at Kiba; he had the most obvious crush in existence on Hinata. As far as he knew, they had been just as close during childhood as he had been with Ino. The girl was utterly oblivious.

Not only that, if he did tell Ino he liked her and she rejected him, where would that leave their friendship?  
No way was he going to risk that. It was safer to just suffer in silence.

"Sasuke, have your parents thought of a name for the new baby yet?" Sakura asked, jerking Naruto out of his thoughts. Naruto noticed that many other candidates for the exams had turned up whilst he mulled over his emotional state.

"Chidori" Sasuke grumbled.  
"Wait isn't that the name of that new technique Kakashi-Sensei's been teaching you?" Naruto asked, slightly confused.  
"Mother says it's _'too pretty'_ to be wasted on an assassination technique"

Naruto snorted with laughter.  
"Make sure you don't tell Cyclops!"

Sasuke was about to retort, but was interrupted by the opening of the academy doors.  
The Chunin Exams had begun.

* * *

"Dispel!" Sakura cried, surprising both her team-mates and the other candidates surrounding them.

"What… How did… What?" Naruto turned to Sakura looking very confused. He had been positive they had already reached the third floor. Sasuke said nothing, but Naruto could tell he was just as confused as he was from all the blinking. The spiky haired boy with the bandage across his nose gave her a friendly smirk, before there was a poof of smoke. Upon clearing, a man dressed in the proctors uniform with the same bandage stood in his place.

"You're a sharp one. What gave it away Pinky?" He asked. Sakura smirked.  
"I almost didn't notice to be honest, since the illusion tricked our sense of touch as well as sight. I was sure we were going up to the third floor for a while." the chunin nodded, confirming what she was explaining for the benefit of those watching.

"There's a dodgy step at the top of the staircase leading to the third floor that you always have to jump over however. I got suspicious when we didn't have to jump over it, and thought I'd try a dispel seal just to see. Turns out I was right after all." Sakura completed her explanation.  
Sasuke and Naruto were staring at her, mouths wide open.

"T-That's amazing Sakura" Naruto complimented, slightly awed by her observation skills. Sasuke nodded, feeling slightly foolish for not noticing himself. He was an Uchiha for god's sake; Illusions was supposed to be easy for him.

"Thanks, but I only noticed because I'm so used to this place. If we had encountered the same thing in one of the other villages, I doubt I'd have noticed."  
"You still bet Sasuke!"  
"Sasuke doesn't have his Sharingan activated, and he didn't get any training in Illusions" Sakura countered. She gave Sasuke an encouraging smile, and he mentally thanked the girl for rescuing his pride.

"You have a point there…" Naruto agreed after some thought. He looked to either of his team-mates. "Well? What are we standing around here for? Let's go! The sooner we pass this thing the sooner we can escape from Cyclops and his punctuality issues!"

Sasuke barley had time to nod before Naruto raced off up the _real_ flight of stairs to the third level.  
"Oi! Wait you Idiot" Sasuke hollered chasing after the blonde, seemingly oblivious to Sakura's angry yells for being left behind.

"Boys are so stupid sometimes…" Sakura grumbled to herself before hurrying after her team-mates.

* * *

Jiraiya watched the three Genin racing down the hallway on the third floor. Naruto seemed to be laughing hysterically at the irate Uchiha boy. The eventually worked themselves into an argument, only to have their skulls pounded by their female team-mate.

"The resemblance is uncanny isn't it?"

Seriously, why were people so insistent on creeping up from behind him lately?  
"I find it slightly scary, actually" Jiraiya commented. "That Sakura girl is so similar to Deidara in terms of temper it's unnatural. Sasuke is like Mikoto, but I can see Fugaku in him at times."

Homura walked over to stand next to him.  
"And Naruto?"

Jiraiya mad a noise somewhere between a snort of disgust and a snort of laughter.  
"He's a dam smart-mouthed brat and his swearing would make his mother proud. He has some of Minato's personality - sense of humour and such - but he takes after him visually for the most part"

Homura chucked lightly.  
"I noticed the same thing myself. Kakashi started teaching him the Rasengan you know, he hasn't passed the first stage though."

There was a long, yet comfortable silence between the two until Jiraiya spoke again.  
"Do you ever regret it? Your decision I mean…"

Homura raised an eyebrow.  
"To dispel the clan? No, I have my moments of course, but I still believe it to have been the best decision we could have made at the time. I know Koharu feels the same, though she has more grievances about it than I do."  
"Well, that's natural isn't it? After loosing so much in one night only to loose what was left… I'd be worried if she hadn't been against it originally"

"It's not like it's a permanent choice anyway" Homura added. "Naruto will find out everything eventually. When that day comes there will be no need for secrecy any more…"

"Are you talking to me or to yourself?"  
"Frankly? I'm not sure…"

"With the way things are going, Naruto's going to be finding out the truth alot sooner than we'd originally planned" Jiraiya grumbled. Homura could only nod in reply.

"Do you have any new information regarding the invasion?"

Jiraiya shook his head.  
"Our people were successfully submitted by Oto, but I don't have anything else. My spies lost track of him a while ago so I don't know what he's planning. I'll just advise you to be on your guard"

"We had planned on it."

* * *

"Which room was it in again?" Sakura asked as they walked down one of the corridors. Despite her knowledge of the dodgy step, none of them had been given much opportunity to go up to the third floor. It was all offices for the teachers and store cupboards.

"301... Wasn't that near the big teachers lounge?" Sasuke asked, turning to Naruto. "Didn't we have to wait there after we glued Katahara to his seat?"  
"No, it was a store cupboard." Naruto clarified. "I remember because I spilled red paint over a bunch of files by accident"

"That was you two?!" Sakura was shocked. They hadn't been told who did that, but the whole class had been glad to see the old teacher looking like an idiot. He'd been a completed jerk and hard ass.

"And to a lesser extent Shikamaru, oh for the love of…" Naruto slammed closed the door he had peeking around, as if hoping room 301 would magically appear. "where the bloody hell are we?!" he yelled to no one in particular.

"If you don't know even that, then you're even more of an idiot than I thought"  
"Naruto? Is that you?"  
"Naruto!"

The three of tem turned to see another three Genin standing behind them. Sasuke didn't recognise any of them, so he assumed they had graduated the year before they themselves did, making the three newcomers Naruto's old classmates.

"Tenten! Lee!" Naruto ran up to the boy in a lurid green jumpsuit (with un-naturally thick eyebrows) and the girl with twin buns and a pink china-esque shirt. There was a brief reunion involving some cheesy posing and head-punching (from the girl) that even Sakura could look up to.

"I haven't seen you for ages!" the girl Sasuke presumed to be named Tenten said. The other boy nodded.  
"Well I've been training for the exams and all lately, so I haven't had much time to talk to anyone bar my team and Ino." Naruto explained.

"Are you dating Ino yet, Naruto?!" the black-haired boy proclaimed loudly.  
"Wh-What? No!" Naruto spluttered his face flushing crimson.

Sasuke was bout to tease his friend about that when the Hyuuga kid, who hadn't spoken since they first ran into the other group, raised his own condescending voice.  
"If you two are quite finished associating with the garbage, we have an exam to get to"

Naruto and Sasuke both growled.  
"Hello to you too, _Neji_" Naruto spat the boys name with obvious distaste.  
"Where the hell do you get of talking to him like that?!" Sasuke yelled angrily.

The boy, Neji, turned to shift his demeaning gaze to Sasuke.

"Jeez, there's some Uchiha trash here as well? They really haven't been keeping up with the cleaning if they let you into the exams" he spat at Sasuke smugly, veins popping up on either side of his eyes. Naruto pretended to vomit at the sight.

"I could same the same about you, _Hyuuga._ Take back what you said to Naruto! Now!" Sasuke hissed in reply.  
"Why should I? He's an idiot, he can't even read. People like that are just filler for the ranks"  
"Hey! I can so rea-"  
"He's a waste of space. He should just give up, once a failure always a failure"

Sasuke snarled.  
"One more word Hyuuga and I'll rip those freaky eyes of yours out of your skull."

"Sasuke, stop it! We don't have the time for this!" Sakura said warily.  
_'If his eyes are freaky then what does that make yours?'_

"The Uchiha clan can't be all its cracked up to be if you're letting yourself be told of by fangirls"

Sakura twitched.  
_'He did not! He did! That bastard called me a fangirl! I'll kill him! I'm nothing like I used to be!'_

"Who do you think you're calling fan girl you white-eyed freak?! You look more like a girl than I do!"  
"I know I do, that's why I'm so shocked by the Uchihas falling standards"

Sasuke snapped and raced towards the Hyuuga boy with his Sharingan blazing. The veins around Neji's became more pronounced as he raced towards Sasuke. Moments before they collided, they were pulled away from each other. Sasuke looked over his head to see a mop of blonde hair.

"Naruto! Let go of me! Didn't you hear what he was saying? He needs some fucking sense pounded into his skull" On the opposite side of the same coin, Neji seemed to be having a similar argument with the boy with abnormal eyebrows. Naruto ignored Sasuke's request and dragged Sasuke back towards where Sakura stood fuming, and away from Neji.

"Oi, Fishcake, are you listening?!"  
"Sorry about that Tenten! I'll have to come see you and Lee when these two aren't around!" Naruto called to the other girl. Sasuke meanwhile was trying to avoid Sakura's gaze. It was one of those moments when he suspected the girl of having some sort of split personality.

"Well hold you to it Naruto!" Lee called back as he dragged Neji away in the opposite direction. Naruto held a struggling Sasuke in front of Sakura, and Sasuke cursed the blonde boy's superior physical strength. Uchiha's were built for speed, not for muscle!

"Sakura, if you please" The pink haired girl smiled at Naruto, before giving Sasuke the exact same look and landing one fisted hand directly on top of his head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"  
"Idiot! We can't get into fights here!" Sakura reprimanded, loudly.  
"Excuse me?! Didn't you hear what he was saying? He called you a fangirl!" Sasuke chose not to point out she still had fangirl-ish tendencies at times.

"You too Naruto!" he turned to glare at his friend. "Why didn't you say something to him?"  
"Like what? I could care less about Neji right now. Sure, he's a complete arse but we have other things to worry about!"

Sasuke snorted.  
"such as?"  
"Such as finding the exam room for one thing!" Sakura yelled.  
"Shit I completely forgot about that!"

Naruto grumbled to himself about stupid Uchihas and stupid hyuugas and their stupid feud.

* * *

"Geez, are we there yet? This place is a maze, how does anyone find anything in this place?"  
"Suigetsu, calm down" a boy with orange hair reprimanded gently.

"What? You're thinking the same thing Juugo!"  
"Yeah, but at least he's not screaming about it to everyone and their mother" Karin grumbled. How did she end up with these idiots again? Oh yes, they were spies of Jiraiya's. Well, technically Orochimaru, but he'd basically given them to Jiraiya: _'I can't be bothered with them anymore. They're too noisy'_

They had been stuck looking around this place for a long time. If they were much longer, they'd be late for the exam! Karin was so absorbed I her face she almost didn't notice the newly familiar chakra of Morina. The girl was leaning against the wall balancing a miniature rasengan on her fore finger absently.

'_Damn her and her chakra control…'_

"Thank god for that, I was beginning to think you'd never show up." the blonde girl grumbled, noticing their arrival. Karin made a growling noise in the back of her throat. It wasn't like she disliked the girl (much), but she seemed to take a perverse pleasure it getting her all riled up.

"I'm sure you know what you're doing, but I'm going to say this anyway" Morina began, levelling the young teens a level gaze. "You three need to keep up your disguises at all times. Unless you find yourselves in a situation where you or one of our own will die, I don't want to hear hide nor hair of your disguises failing. It is imperative that you keep them up at all times."

"Well duh, Sissy Morina" Suigetsu snorted as he took asp of water from his flask. "Were not idiots."  
"Well make sure the other Oto ninja remain unsuspicious." Juugo reassure her.

Morina grinned at them  
"That's my boys!"

They brightened at the praise. Morina had been responsible for training them somewhat back in Oto, and they had come to see her as extended family having none of their own. Suigetsu's brother was dead - murdered - and Juugo had killed his own during one of his fits. They knew her well enough to know that she rarely gave praise. She found faults in many things, and would nag and nag until the faults were removed.

"Karin, come over here a second." she said to the redhead. Karin grumbled but moved away from her team mates some ways with Morina.

"What is it?" she asked the older girl. Morina's previously cheery face turned serious again.  
"I'm sure Mama K. already gave you this lecture Karin, but you cannot let anyone find out who you are, especially Naruto! No matter how much you want to"

Karin's frown softened a little bit and she bit her lip.  
"Why can't we tell him? He deserves to know his family is alive at least!"

"For the same reasons my name doesn't exist in any ninja registry Karin! Mama K. and your mother have done one hell of a job keeping Naruto's existence a secret from the Akastuki and our Father's enemies. If he finds out, then there will be other people who find out, and we can't take that chance until Naruto can look after himself. Just look at what happened with Mizuki! We can't risk that happening again!"

Karin considered all this for what seemed like the hundredth time. Eventually she sighed in frustration.  
"Can I at least say hello?"

Morina smiled then.  
"Just don't blow your cover"

Karin suddenly found herself being suffocated.  
"I'd love to run up and smother him myself, but unfortunately needs must prevents me from doing so"

Karin allowed the girl a few moments peace before she exploded.  
"Alright! Alright! I get let go of me! I don't do all this sissy crap!" Karin yelled, prying herself from the older girls grasp.

Suigetsu snickered at her actions, and she pushed him into a nearby wall.  
"Something funny jelly-boy?" she growled in a dangerous tone.

"Ow! God you're a fucking psycho…" Suigetsu mumbled as he pulled himself up off the floor.  
"What was that?!"  
"Calm down you two; remember what Big Sis said about our covers?" Juugo said placating. The two young teens glared at each other before turning away with a typical 'Hmph!'

'Well, we'll be off" he said to Morina, taking a hold of the door handle.  
"Wish us luck Sissy!" Suigetsu, who stood on Karin's other side, added jovially.  
"What they said"

"Just get going before I kick you through that door" Morina stated calmly. With that Suigetsu and Karin opened the door to room 301 and stepped inside.

* * *

Kakashi stood a little ways from the area where Morina was giving his daughter's team their briefing. The girl sure had grown since he'd last seen her (well, she had been one). Jiraiya seemed to be correct about her being a hothead - he suspected that was Kushina's influence. Her hair was even more of a similar colour to Kushina's than it had in the past, just a slightly different shade.

If he didn't know better, he'd say she was Kushina's daughter, not Rin's. That was not the case however; rin had informed him that their mother had had red hair, but she'd gotten her fathers colouring. He could see his wife's influence as well however; when the situation demanded it she appeared to be fairly level headed.

He watched as Morina saw her team inside the exam room, and made her way to the waiting room that had been set aside for the Jonin teachers and Sponsors. He waited until she had just passed by his hiding place before speaking;

"Hello there Little Lady. You seem to have been busy for the last ten years." he greeted, using her fathers old nickname for her - just for the fun of it.  
"YEEEEK!"

* * *

"Hey Suigetsu, did you just hear Big Sis screaming?"  
"Huh? Sissy? Screaming? You Sure?"  
"You're imagining things Juugo"

- - - - - - - - - -

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, for no apparent reason, shuddered at the exact same moment.

"Guys, is it just me or…?"  
"…I think so…" Sasuke replied.  
"Wonder which poor sucker he got this time…" Naruto pondered before sneezing slightly.

* * *

"Geez, you're as loud as ever Morina, aren't you supposed to be at black Ops level?" Kakashi said, watching the blonde regain control over her breathing. After she finally stopped hyperventilating, she glared at him - looking the spitting image of his old teacher as she did so.

"You always do that Dog Man!" she hissed angrily.  
"I take it you're the back-up?" Kakashi asked, with a more serious tone in his voice. Morina nodded.  
"Among other things…"

Kakashi caught the tone in her voice.  
"I won't ask, but can you do a small favour for me?" he asked, smiling the smile his gremlins had long since learned never to trust. Morina narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but nodded all the same. Kakashi reached into his supply pouch with one hand and pulled out a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.

"Give that to Karin for me." he instructed.  
Morina held the thin parcel in front of her face with her thumb and fore finger, and eyed it sceptically.

"Do I eve want to know what this is?" she asked.

"…No, probably not"  
"Urgh, fine. I'll give her the damn parcel despite how much my instincts tell me to burn this… thing."

Kakashi feigned a look of hurt as she walked away.  
"I can hear your team coming so I'm going Cyclops. See ya!"  
"…Not you as well"

Kakashi heard he snicker once before she disappeared in a whirl of leaves. At the precise moment she disappeared, his bedraggled looking gremlins emerged from another hallway. Sasuke looked like he was itching to kill something, Sakura looked slightly traumatized, and Naruto looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"I see you finally made it, although not without a few misadventures… what's this I hear about your encounter with team 9?"

The glares his three students sent him told him it would be best to change the subjects.

"Now, now… don't take you're anger out on me. It's illegal to kill a fellow village ninja"  
"But we can maim you right?" Sasuke asked, hopefully.

"No. No maiming"  
"That sucks! Why not?"  
"Because"

Sakura cracked her knuckles eerily. Her two companions jumped away from her, shivering at the sound.

"Why don't I just leave you to it?"  
"Shut up before I give you a knuckle sandwich Cyclops" she growled.  
Sasuke and Naruto stared at Sakura before the shivered in unison.

'_Sakura's shit scary when she's pissed off…'_ was their collective thought. However, they had no time to ponder this. They pushed aside their fear (for the time being) and walked towards the door, Sasuke and Naruto on either side of Naruto.

"You'd better have a celebration feast planned for us Cyclops!" Sakura yelled back to their teacher as they walked forward. Sasuke chuckled lightly, but it was Naruto's statement that had him in stitches as they pushed the door open.

"If we fail this you'll never see that porn of yours again Sensei!" he said with a happy-looking grin on his face. Despite the swell of pride rising in his chest, Kakashi's hand automatically went to his supply pouch protectively.

* * *

"I wanna go home…" Choji grumbled, string at the other participants gathered in the exam room.  
"Don't be such a scaredy cat Choji! You've trained just as hard as any number of these guys!" Ino said jovially, trying to boost her cousin's spirits somewhat. Judging by the small smile on Choji's face, she succeeded.

"You're right Ino" he looked around then, apparently searching for something. "Naruto's team still isn't here? If they don turn up soon they'll be disqualified before they even start…" he said in a worried tone which did nothing to ease Ino's own frazzled nerves.

'_Where on earth is that idiot? Oh gods, don't tell me he forgot! Aw hells! Kakashi is having an influence on him!'_

"Stop worrying so much woman, do you really think Naruto and Sasuke are going to pass up a chance to free themselves from Kakashi-Sensei?" Shikamaru drawled. Ino jerked at the sound of his voice, considered his words, before shaking her head.

"Of course they wouldn't. And neither would billboard head… I don't know why I'm so worried" Ino berated herself. Shikamaru sighed. His team-mates were such worry warts. Not that he wasn't either, but it didn't really show with him. Truth be told he was freaking out a little bit himself, but he knew Naruto and Sasuke well enough to know they would rather die painfully than be stuck with Kakashi for another six months, Sakura too. Not that they disliked him (despite the man's obvious irritations), but because they had their own goals that would not be achieved should they remain at Genin level.

He wasn't going into those though, particularly not Naruto's. He'd worry about that if they actually made Chunin rank.

"Oh no! What if he couldn't read the information sheet and got the time wrong?!" Ino yelled out of the blue._  
'God, is __Naruto all she ever thinks about? Man I feel sorry for him; he'll never get away from her'_

"Ino, stop wor-"  
"Naruto! You're late!" Ino screeched as Team 7 entered the room, looking slightly dishevelled.

* * *

Ino immediately lived up to her new nickname (_'limpet'_) and glued herself to Naruto before the door had time to close. She let herself squeeze the living daylights out of him. He deserved it for making her worry so much. She received one of her biggest shocks to date when he hugged her back just as enthusiastically. Not one to look a gift hose in the mouth, she let him squeeze most of the air out of her lungs before releasing him from her own death grip.

"You idiot! You were almost late!" she chastised him, making sure not to look at him directly and thus reveal her tomato face. She was so concerned with hiding her own; she didn't notice him doing the exact same thing as he replied.

"Sorry" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "We got a bit lost…"

At the same time Sasuke and Shikamaru were giving their blonde team-mates an exasperated look.  
"How long do you think it will take for them to figure it out?" Shikamaru asked lazily.  
"Years most likely" Sasuke snorted. "Never mind that though, I have something more important to talk to you about"  
"I hate you already"

* * *

"Sakura! Where the bloody hell is that blonde?!" Kiba yelled. Sakura tore her gaze from her two blonde friends to see Team 8 standing behind her. Kiba looked like he wanted to murder something and a faint buzzing nose Shino indicated he was also aggravated.

"Err… he's a bit busy at the moment…" she cast a sidelong glance to Ino and Naruto who were by now talking animatedly, albeit a hint of red on their cheeks. Kiba and Shino stared for a few seconds before Hinata broke the silence:

"Wow, he only has eyes for Ino doesn't he?" Sakura stared at Hinata her mouth agape. Where was the stutter? And why wasn't she twiddling the fingers? And didn't she have a crush on Naruto?

'_Oh my god! Someone brainwashed Hinata!'_

Kiba seemed to sense her bafflement and he pulled her to the side and mumbled very quietly: "Two words; Anko Mitarashi"  
Sakura stared at him, then Hinata, then patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.

"Is she as scary as they say?" she asked.  
Kiba whimpered

* * *

"Hey Karin, the creepy red-head at five 'o' clock is giving that cousin of yours a creepy glare" Suigetsu muttered quietly. Karin surreptitiously removed her gaze from Naruto and the blonde girl with the long hair to glance in the direction Suigetsu had indicated. Sure enough the creepy red head was giving her cousin a manic looking glare. She searched his features for something she might recognise. She noticed the strange markings around his eyes, and then focused on the red tattoo on his forehead.

"Oh shit, what's he doing here?" she hissed.  
"What is it?" Juugo asked, sensing her distress before Suigetsu (he was too preoccupied with his water bottle).

"That's Subaku no Gaara! Gaara of the Desert!" Karin mumbled, desperate to avoid being overheard.  
"What?!"  
"Take a look for yourself! Shit, we didn't get anything about him being here!"  
"This is a definite problem…" Suigetsu added. "We need to tell Sissy, as soon as possible."

Karin nodded, here eyes still on the red-haired boy. They widened in panic when he began to walk towards the area occupied by the newest of Konoha's Genin. Thankfully he was halted by the pink hared girl that was on Naruto's team. That didn't give them much cause for comfort however.

"Shit!"  
"I don't think shit quite covers this, Dearie" Suigetsu stated, equally perturbed.  
"What do we do?" Juugo asked.

Karin bit her lip.  
"For the moment we do nothing, it's not like he's actually attacking him…"

"But Karin-"  
"No buts Suigetsu! If we do anything here we'll be disqualified and our cover will be compromised! Gaara can't do anything either… for the moment at any rate. It's best for us just to leave it" she grumbled, clearly frustrated. Suigetsu gave her a worried frown but said nothing more on the subject.

* * *

"What do you want with Naruto?" Sakura asked the redhead. If she recalled his name was Gaara or something. The guy was giving off a creepy aura, and he seemed to have a weird fetish for her team-mates. In particular Naruto.  
Now that she looked at him closely he was giving her a crazy stare swell. His team-mates gave her a similar one, only the difference lay in the messages their respective glares sent: _'you're-certifiably-insane!'_ was radically different to the _'I-want-to-eat-your-babies' _sort of look this creep was giving her.

"None of you're business." he said, in an eerily flat, calm voice. Sakura shivered. Maybe if he didn't seem so crazy, he would have been pretty good-looking, but the cool-vibe was completely killed by the killer one. Deciding it would be in her best interests to let him pas for now, she took a step to the side

"Fine, be that way. But if you're up to something weird then bear in mind it won't be just me and Sasuke you'll have to worry about" And with that she turned back to her conversation with Kiba. Had she turned around she would have seen a perplexed look cross the boys face for a fraction of a second before the cruel stare blotted it out.

* * *

"Wow, one of my crazier theories was actually right" Shikamaru said, in a slightly dumbfounded voice, after Sasuke finished recounting his tale.  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"His father" Shikamaru clarified.  
"We have to keep an eye out during the exams. I wouldn't put it past these bastards to try attacking before the final rounds" Sasuke grumbled.  
"Well duh!"

"I'm serious Shika! These are the same people who tried to kill us before we could graduate! We have to be careful! And not just for Naruto! They've already shown no qualms about killing us to get to him!" Sasuke hissed angrily. Shikamaru seemed a little taken aback by that.

"Besides the obvious, why would they even want to kill Naruto anyway? Everyone loved the Namikaze's…" Shikamaru trailed off.

Sasuke had asked himself that same question many times since his memories had returned, but he still couldn't think of an answer. Shikamaru was right; the Namikaze's had been one of the most respected clans in the village, despite being the smallest in existence.

They had been responsible for the village's protection. The barrier that protected Konoha and alerted officials of intruders was of Namikaze design. Besides that, their clan set-up meant that at least half had been fully fledged (and highly skilled) field medics, and plenty of those that weren't could at least mend a couple of broken bones and shallow wounds.

They had been an invaluable asset to Konoha during the second and third ninja wars. Even those pompous Hyuugas admitted how useful they had been; the Namikaze's had designed that caged bird seal, though they had been outraged when they discovered just how it was used. The Namikaze's had never supported the segregation in the Hyuuga clan.

According to what his grandfather had told him of his own team-mate before he died, they had been friendly, and easy to get along with. If someone like his grandfather (who was an even bigger hard ass than his father) had been able to give out a few compliments then…

Why on earth would someone find fault in all that?

As Sasuke pondered all this, Shikamaru caught sight of a red-haired girl watching Naruto. She had a purple shirt, black shorts, and some of the longest ninja sandals he's ever seen. Judging from the pack on her back, she was her team's medic. She wore glasses, but they suited her odd style - her hair was short on one side, yet long on the other. It was definitely different.

It was not her looks that drew her to him however; it was the look she was giving his friend. It was like she would like nothing better than an opportunity to run up and squeeze the living daylights out of him like Ino did so often. It was a different look to the one Ino gave him though. If he had to place it, it was more like the one Choji gave Ino and Himself from time to time…

She began to panic when that creepy red-head began to walk over to him, and it was only after she had conferred with her team-mates (who were as equally panicked) that she calmed down. She still looked apprehensive though.

'_Why is she looking at him like that? Does she know him? That's impossible, she's from sound…' _He stared at the sound headband dangling from the belt of that medic pack. It was almost like she didn't even care about it, like she had no pride for her village. He poked Sasuke in the shoulder.

"Oi, what do you think of that girl?" he asked. Sasuke gazed in the direction he indicated with one hand.  
"The redhead?" he asked.

Shikamaru nodded. Sasuke took a closer look at her and stiffened in his seat.  
"She's..." sasuke seemed to stare at her critically (Uchiha-nese equivalent of oggling) "Well, she's alright, but since when did you pay attention to girls?"

Shikamaru felt like banging his head on the wall. He should have been clearer with his wording.  
Of course Sasuke would look at her looks first; He was as big a pervert at Naruto could be a prude (not that Naruto couldn't be a pervert either, frankly, he was just as bad if you dug him out of his prudish shell), he just didn't show it. Even worse, that girl was his type. Red hair. Slightly odd. Judging by the way she berated her white haired team-mate she wasn't one to back in a corner either.

Stupid Stupid Stupid!

"I meant don't you think she's acting odd, look at the way she's staring at Naruto" Shikamaru clarified.

Sasuke grunted and took another look and his eyes narrowed. They widened again when he heard her voice.  
"Aw hell! I forgot the antiseptic! Morina'll kill me if she finds out_! __"_

Sasuke's warning senses were blaring at full blast.  
_'Itachi mentioned that name, is she talking about the same person?'_

The girl caught him staring at her, and she blushed. She gazed at him for a second before realizing how suspicious his gaze was. A look of pure panic crossed her face and she turned back to her team mates. Sasuke made a mental note to keep an eye on the girl in the future.

* * *

**_Oh my god, the new opening is awesome! I swear one of them will make me cry one day with the increasing angst-ish-ness in them. Sunao no Niji already made me cry once i read the lyrics for the whole song. two sentences in englis for this and i'm getting al;l weird-girly-tears already. God knows what the whole song'll do one i get the lyrics. _**

**_Emo-Openings aside, what the freak is Mandarin smoking?! No, never mind Mandarin, what is Kishi smoking to come up with Mandarin's crazy logic?!  
Gimmie it, whatever it is! He must be having the best freaking High in Fudge Country!  
_**

**_Seriously though, he wants to brainwash the world with the Moon? The freaking _Moon_?  
Mandarin is awesome! Sure, he's a crazy evil bastard, but who else would try to brainwash the world with the Moon?  
Though the mask thing is freaky. I was all _'Are my meds out of date, or did he just suck Sasuchii into his mask?'  
_  
Rewiews Please Minions!  
Natarii  
xxx_**

**_Oh, I'm considering starting a FemNaruSasu story but I dunno which I'm going to go with. I have two ideas so I'm putting them in a poll.  
Votes are apreciated, if you have the time!  
*Hangs cookie over voting button as bait*_**


	13. Sand and Sound: Gaara and Karin

**_Theres Yaoi in this chapter! Homophobes, Ye Be Warned, Arr!  
I wish I owned Naruto, but Mandarin wouldnt be nearly so hillarious if that were the case, so I'll let Kishi have it._**

* * *

"_I meant don't you think she's acting odd, look at the way she's staring at Naruto" Shikamaru clarified.  
Sasuke grunted and took another look and his eyes narrowed. They widened again when he heard her voice._

"_Aw hell! I forgot the antiseptic! Morina'll kill me if she finds out!"_

Sasuke's warning senses were blaring at full blast.  
_'Itachi mentioned that name, is she talking about the same person?'_

The girl caught him staring at her, and she blushed. She gazed at him for a second before realizing how suspicious his gaze was. A look of pure panic crossed her face and she turned back to her team mates. Sasuke made a mental note to keep an eye on the girl in the future.

* * *

"You are Naruto?" the redhead asked him. Naruto felt that uneasy sense of familiarity wash over him for the second time that day. He didn't know what it was about this kid, but something wasn't right about him. His eyes were a clear indication of that. They were disturbingly cold. As he had given up on life, or had the spark of life sucked out of him with only the clouds left behind.

"Yeah, I'm Naruto" he replied, surreptitiously placing himself between the red head and Ino. Something told him that this kid was dangerous on an inhuman level. He didn't know where the feeling came from, but he wasn't going to ignore it.

He had sworn he would never ignore his instincts again, thanks to Mizuki.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.  
"I am Gaara of the Desert" the boy replied in his flat voice.

"Well, nice to meet you Gaara!" he put on a cheery bravado, holding out his hand in greeting. "You're form Sunagakure, right?" he asked, seeing the familiar symbol on the headband strapped to the boy's leather gourd-holding-thing. Gaara nodded, and gave his hand a suspicious look.

"What? You don't shake hands in Suna?" Naruto asked, slightly confused. Was the kid a shut-in or something? Gaara stared at him for a few moments, still glaring, before tentatively taking his hand in his own.

The moment their skin made contact, a fierce roaring flashed into each boy's mind. Images of blood, ruins, madness, flesh, sandstorms, fire, chaos, and above all a sickening desire for death. For Naruto clutched stood frozen, cold sweat rolling down his face and neck as other scenes flowed into his mind. Gaara stood with his hands clutching his head, shaking violently as another set of memories flowed into his own brain:

_

* * *

_

'_Hurry! Seal it now Lady Chiyo! Before the child is born!'__  
'No! You bastard! How can you do this you monster!'_

- - -

'_What are saying?! I won't do it!'_  
'_Yes you will!'_  
'_NO! I won't leave you and Nar-'_

'_TAKE HIM!!'___

- - -

'_This if for the good of the Village Karura!'  
'Then Damn this village to hell! Damn you to hell! Damn this monster you've created to hell!'___

- - -

'_Why do you want me to do this?!'_  
'_Because if you don't, you'll never forgive yourself will you? Now take him before I change my mind!'___

- - -

'_Why don't you just die?!'_

_No. No. I don't want to!  
Why? Why?! I didn't do anything!__  
LEAVE ME ALONE!_

_What is this? It's red and sticky…__  
What is it?_

- - -

'_Naruto, will you come to the play-park with me?'_  
'_No'_  
'_Why?'_

_'Everyone glares at me when I go outside'  
'But Naru-'  
'No Ino!'___

- - -

'_Big Sis, why does everyone glare at me? Why don't they like me?'_  
'_I dunno, but Kari says you're dangerous! She says it was you hurt Kariko's daddy! Don't come near me or Kankuro!'___

- - -

'W_ho's that lady in the picture?'_  
'_That's Ino's mother'_  
'_I have one too, don't I?'  
'Of course Naruto, everyone does'_

'_Where is she?'___

- - -

'_Monster!'  
__'Freak'_

- - -  
  
'_Oh my god, is that him?'_  
'_I thought he died back then!'_  
'_It's sill alive?!'_

'_Go away!'_  
'_Monster!'  
_'_Demon'  
___

Blood… blood… blood…  
Give it to me! Give me blood!

_No! No! I won't! Stop talking to me!_

_Blood! Blood! Blood!  
Shut up! Shut up!_

_Blood! Blood! Give it to me!__SHUT UP!_

_- - -_

This thing is evil what is it?  
I hate it. Why is it inside me?  
It's evil. It wants blood. I can sense it somehow.

'_What the hell are you?!'_  
'_You'll find out eventually'_

_What is it?_

- - -

'_Um… this ointment, if you'd like it-'_  
'_Go away! Get away from me you monster!'_

_- - -_

That wasn't a chakra focusing tag...  
Why'd he give me an exploding tag? Did he make a mistake?

_But he's a teacher, he can read kanji!  
Did he do it on purpose?  
__  
He tried to kill me? Does he hate me too?  
__Why?_

- - -  
  
'_Yashumaru!'_  
'_Please… die'_

- - -

'_You destroyed this entire village monster!'  
No! No!_

'_You did! And do you want to know why you did? BECAUSE YOU ARE THE NINE TAILED DEMON FOX!'  
No!_

_That's not true! It can't be true! It wasn't me! I'm not a monster!  
NO!_

- - -

'_Oh my god! He killed him!'  
'He really is a monster him!_  
'_Stay away from him!'_

_Shut up! It was an accident! It was that thing! It wasn't me!_

_Blood! Blood! Blood! Give it to me!__  
Shut up! Shut Up!_

_- - -_

What? Blood?! Where did it come form? Is it mine? I'm covered in it!

_Oh my god! What happened to him? Haku! Wake up!  
Wait, what am I holding? What's this sticky thing?  
Oh god is this..? Did I do this?_

_Blood… Blood… Blood…  
Get off! Get Off!  
Why won't it come of?!_

_I didn't mean it! It wasn't me!  
Blood… Blood… Blood…__  
I feel sick… I didn't do this… I'm not a monster…  
Why won't it come off?!_

_

* * *

_

Naruto was the first to recover from the sudden influx, and he stared at Gaara as he regained his own bearings. He was vaguely aware of Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Ino all fussing and yelling. He also got the impression team eight and team nine ware watching. He ignored them

For the first time that day, Naruto say something other than a glare on Gaara's face, and he felt certain it was a mirror of his own: Perplexity, relief, understanding, and a strange sense of camaraderie. Who was this boy? Gaara stared at him. He could see the team-mates he recognised to be his siblings looking absolutely terrified.

"You… You're like me?" he asked the redhead, who simply nodded in reply. Naruto thought he was about to leave,yet before he did so he asked something confusing.

"They don't run from you? Why? Don't they know you're dangerous?" he said quietly.

Ino froze at the connotations of his words. Thankfully she was the only one close enough to hear him.  
"They're my friends" Naruto replied simply.

Gaara looked like he was about to say something else but he was interrupted by the loud banging noise. At the front of the room amidst a whirl of smoke stood a group of Chunin in grey uniforms. One of the men standing in front the others wore a black coat and had several scars on his face.

"Pipe down you brats!" he roared. "The Chunin exams have begun!"

* * *

Sakura's hit her desk with a loud thunk.  
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

Shikamaru slapped a face mumbling the words _'troublesome'_ and _'pain in the ass'_

Ino glared at Ibiki and clenched her fist _'He's a fucking dead man!' _

Karin stared at the man before she let out groan.  
Naruto stared at the man for a few seconds before he exploded: "What the hell?! A written test?!"

Ibiki shivered at the glares being sent to him by five of the Konoha Genins.

* * *

Naruto tried. He really did.

Despite all his efforts he could barley make out half the words written on the piece of paper; never mind answering the questions! How could he do that when he couldn't even read them?! Naruto was very slowly beginning to realise what Sasuke's father and Iruka had been getting at when they said he was in a serious mess not asking for help earlier.  
Urgh…

Maybe he should cheat? Nah, Sasuke and Sakura would kill him if they ended up with Kakashi for another year because of him. But he couldn't think of anything else to do! From some of the words he could make out, this test was way beyond his level of understanding! The only people from their age group who had a chance of answering these questions were Sakura and Shikamaru!

But if he didn't answer the questions, he'd take the group point average down for leaving the sheet blank! If he guessed and got it wrong, the points would still be taken off! If he got caught cheating they'd take even more point off, but how on earth were they supposed to pass otherwise?

Sure, it was five strikes before disqualification, but there were ten freaking questions!  
There was no way he could answer all of them without getting caught!

What kind of weird exam set up was this anyway, surley they should be thrown out after one attempt at cheating? It was like saying: _'Well since it was only once you can have another shot, but don't cheat again!'_

Something was off about this whole thing. The way the proctors were watching them, the rules, the five strikes, the point system, the incomprehensibility of the questions. It left him no other option but cheating, but if he got caught five times the whole team would be out. Wait…

Did they want them to cheat? If he thought about it that way, it made more sense. He looked over his shoulder at sakura. She was furiously scribbling down the answers, but then again, she was pretty brainy. She'd have taken top femal in the academy if her physical stuff hadn't dragged her down. Sasuke too, was scribbling furiously.

Now that was strange. Naruto wouldn't deny that Sasuke was smarter than him (to himself at least), but he wasn't smart enough to answer _these_ questins. He'd figured out one of them and suffice to say he felt like he was reading a new language all over again. He looked closer at his friend and could make out a red tinge to his eyes.

_'Why is he using the Sharingan? What is there to copy?' _Naruto followed Sasuke's line of sight and unless he was very much mistaken, they landed on one of the other participants who was writing down his own answers.

'_He's copying his arm movements to get the answers! That settles it, were supposed to cheat!'_

First hurdle completed, Naruto moved onto his second one; how was he supposed to get these answers anyway? The rasengan was no use; it was for blowing things up with(when he finally got the hang of it at least). There were his shaddow clones of course, and he worked on a new version from the scroll that would be perfect for this exam. However, he was still having problems with that particular type of clone, and if he got it wrong, that would be a strike on his record.

Looking around he could see his other friends using their own techniques to accomplish the goal. Ino lay snoozing on her desk, no doubt from the use of her mind transfer; she would probably give Choji the answers later. Hinata and Neji were both using their Byakugan, Kiba and Shino were both talking to their animal companions, and he could see Tenten adjusting a mirror for Lee's benefit.

Argh! Why couldn't he have practiced with those clones more?! At this rate, his only chance would be the last question! Naruto decided to pass the time by filling in the answer boxes with derogatory terms towards Ibiki for being such a twisted weirdo who didn't allow any leeway for people with slight reading problems and no techniques suited for information gathering.

* * *

"Alright, time for the final question." Ibiki stated. The remaining Genin fixed their eyes on him attentively. "However before I ask it you must decide whether you want to take the question or not."

Kiba stared at the man.  
"Huh?"

"If you do not take the question, you will be disqualified from this exam, however if you do take it and answer incorrectly, you will be banned from taking the Chunin exams ever again"

The room stared at him aghast. Several people raised their hands, and they left along with their teams. Even Kiba seemed like he was about to raise his hand until Naruto and Ino finally lost it.

"Will you quit it with the psychological crap and get to the point already?!"  
"Will you quit it with the psychological crap and get to the point already?!"

Ibiki glared as all his mental torture was unravelled; he cursed Inochi for training his daughter to identify psychological warfare, and Naruto's sheer strength of will.

* * *

As they filed out to the room, Karin found herself smiling to herself. She had lucked out on a seat behind Naruto and had been in silent stitches of laughter as she watched him desecrate his test paper. Naruto was now walking with that blonde girl, her chubby team-mate and Pinky at the moment, some distance in front of her own.

She couldn't help but wonder where the other two boys were. She didn't like the way the Uchiha boy had been looking at her earlier. He was suspicious.

As she pondered this she felt a spike of chakra behind her and she whirled round just in time to see a fire ball being thrown her way. They were in a secluded area now, and her team had gone on ahead. She turned to glare at the Uchiha boy but felt another, minute spike of chakra behind her she jumped up just in time to avoid a shadow that had bee crawling in her direction.

"Wow, she's good. She sensed your shadow possession before I could even see it Shika" the fire user said.

The lazy looking Nara boy grumbled to himself and stood on her opposite side, blocking any possible escape routes. After paying more attention to her surroundings, she found herself backed up against a chicken wire fence.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" she hissed, as she discreetly sent some of her chakra into a distress seal on her back. It would alert Morina and she would come to help her out of this mess.

"Shikamaru Nara"  
"Sasuke Uchiha; calm down ok? We just want a word with you" Karin recognised the names. They were both clan heirs to their clans. Tch. No wonder they picked up on her so much. She hadn't been very covert after all.

"Couldn't you just have asked instead of throwing a fireball at me or trying to catch me with your shadow?"

"We got the feeling you wouldn't be very willing to talk when we asked our questions" the boy she now knew to be Shikamaru said lazily. Sasuke kept his glare on her and had this been any other time, she probably would have molested him. Possibly.

"What do you want with Naruto?" Sasuke asked, getting right to the point. He noticed the girl flinch visibly at the name. He smirked, and he could almost hear her cursing herself inside her head for her moment of weakness.

"I don't know who you're talking about"  
"You're lying"  
"I am not!"  
"Don't lie, your chakra fluctuates whenever tell a lie. My Sharingan can see your chakra getting all messed up. You're lying."

Sasuke smirked as the girl froze. She was so distracted by Sasuke's interrogation that she didn't notice Shikamaru's shadow extending towards her till it was too late. Apparently deciding that running was the best option she tried to move her foot only for her eyes to widen.

She muttered several vicious swear words Sasuke would expect Naruto to mutter when things went pear shaped. Sasuke was beginning to find this girl even more interesting.

"Look, we already know you aren't plotting to kill him or anything, we just want to know what it is you want with him" Shikamaru said, trying to calm the girl down (he had unconsciously taken on the 'good ninja' role). The girl, they really needed to find out her name, visibly relaxed. If she had been planning something less than friendly towards Naruto, then she wouldn't have done that.

"What's you're name?" Sasuke asked, trying a new approach.  
"Karin Namika-" her eyes widened, and she clapped her hands to her mouth.

* * *

"Hey, Kiba, what's wrong with you?" Naruto asked, poking the brown haired dog trainer in the arm several times. Ever since he had seen the second examiner he'd been acting like Sasuke whenever his schedule was messed up irreversibly.

"Oi, Kiba!" he poked him again, to no avail. Naruto sighed. It wasn't just Kiba, Shino and Hinata were acting weird too. They, like Kiba, were doing their best to hide at the back of the crowd - as far away from the woman as possible. Sasuke and Shikamaru were late as well.

Sakura was freaking out about Sasuke being kidnapped by a slightly paedophilic man with lots of snakes and a vampire fetish, and Ino was mumbling about Shikamaru falling asleep in the middle of the path. He was getting a headache already; they'd only been at this a few hours.

"Oi, Kiba!! What on earths wrong with you? You've been acting weird since you first set eyes on the examiner! Do you know her or something?"

Kiba whimpered. Naruto's eyes bulged. Since when did Kiba whimper? This was Kiba right? The same Kiba who sometimes joined in on his pranks with Sasuke and Shikamaru?  
Impossible! Kiba didn't whimper! He was an Inuzuka! They were fearless!

"_She's a freaking Psycho_!!" Kiba hissed, as if the woman might somehow hear him at the back of the noisy crowd. Naruto turned around and gave the purple haired woman a scrutinising glare. She didn't look that bad…

"Are you sure? She looks fairly normal to me, for a ninja at any rate"  
"She's my Jonin-Sensei!! Trust me! She's a complete whacko! She likes blood! She chases us with kunai and calls it Kunai-Onigokko! She calls it kunai-tag! She's nuts!" he replied, with more enthusiasm, but just as quietly.

The woman looked at Kiba with a crazy smirk on her face and threw a kunai at him. He dived out of the way so enthusiastically that he bumped into a boy from sound with bright orange hair standing beside them.

"Oh, god, sorry!" Kiba yelped, helping him up off the ground.  
"Its fine" The boy replied, smiling to show he held no grudge before turning back to his team-mate. "Karin's really pushing for time Suigetsu…"

Naruto heard no more of their conversation, as the examiner lady was now descending upon Kiba with a strange gleam in her eye.

"What did you just say Mutt?" she asked sweetly, fingering a kunai.  
Kiba whimpered again.

Naruto decided Kiba was right.  
This woman was a freaking Psycho.

* * *

"Well that wasn't what I expected" Shikamaru drawled.  
"You're telling me…" Sasuke fixed a curios gaze on Karin, who still had her hands firmly on her mouth.

"Are you his sister?" Shikamaru asked.

Karin cursed herself for her stupidity. She hadn't expected them to ask her name, so she just answered as she normally would. How on earth was she supposed to get out of this mess? She couldn't _not_ tell them anything now, but how much she could explain without compromising her cover any more than she already had? Why the hell did she agree to this whole infiltration thing in the first place?! She sucked at infiltraition like this!

"Tell me what you know first. My covers already blown so there's no point in hiding much, but I'm not telling you anything you don't need to know" Sasuke seemed to find this fair as he proceeded to explain everything that his father had told him, what he had overheard, and what he and Shikamaru had deduced between the two of them.

"Well, that's more than I thought…" Karin said, seemingly surprised.

"So? How are you related to him?" Shikamaru asked again.  
"He's my cousin, but if we were to talk it through clan traditions, I would be his partner from the support branch"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.  
"You don't look like a Namikaze. They were all blonde weren't they?"

"My Aunt is Naruto's mother. When she married Minato, my mother took on the Namikaze name as well, as did my father when he married my mother. It was part of the marriage agreement. It was actually Aunty K who decided on it"

"Ok, we won't ask anymore there." Karin visibly relaxed.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked.  
"Isn't it obvious? To make sure none of your crazy-psycho family members kill my cousin you brainless idiot!"

Sasuke's eyebrow rose. He really liked this girl.  
She had spunk. Sure, Sakura was fairly decent-looking and would berate him occasionally, but call him a brainless idiot? Never. An idiot, yes occasionally. But this girl was insulting him right off the bat. When he first met Sakura, she just blushed and squealed. Never mind suggesting the Uchiha clan had mental heals issues.

"Who's Morina? Sasuke said his brother mentioned her a couple of times, and we heard you say the name. Is it the same person?" Shikamaru asked, releasing the shadow possession. Sasuke followed suit and deactivated his Sharingan.

"Err… another of Naruto's long lost family members. That's all I'm saying. She's going to give me hell as it is; I'm not adding fuel to the fire!" Karin replied vehemently.

"Give you hell for what Karin?" The two boys saw the girl pale at the sight of the person standing behind them. Sasuke and Shikamaru both turned around to see the mystery person and what they saw made their jaws drop.

"Holy Fuck! It's a female Naruto! She looks like the sexy technique!"  
"Nah, the pigtails are messier" Shikamaru corrected.  
"They're still pigtails! If she had whiskers she'd be the sexy technique!"

"The what?" the female Naruto-clone asked, sounding incredibly confused.  
"Excuse me, but are you related to Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Use your eyes you lazy excuse for a ninja! Of course she's related to Naruto! They could be twins!"  
"Well, yeah, but medical techniques can do everything nowadays…"  
"You're so shocked you're being more analytical than necessary!"  
"…you think so?"  
"I know so!"

"Excuse me, but what in the name of arse are you two talking about?" Morina asked, still confused.

"Holy fuck! She swears like him as well! This is too fucking creepy Sasuke! Troublesome doesn't do this justice at all!"  
"Now he admits it. Jesus Shika, for all your Nara brains you can be really slow someti-"

Sasuke broke off when off when he felt an ominous aura begin to emanate from the woman.

He suddenly felt like running somewhere very far away.  
Far, far away.

"Karin… you have some serious explaining to do!" the woman growled, cracking her knuckles in a manner that would have had Sakura in awe.

* * *

"What the hell took you so long bottom-boy?!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke ran up towards his team-mates. It may have been a trick of the eye, but Naruto thought he could see a flash of terror in his eyes before he answered.

"I had to tie my sandals up" he replied. "And I had to wake up Shikamaru, he fell asleep in a ditch - of all the possible places he chose a _ditch_. Sometimes I wonder if he really is a genius…"

"It took you half an hour to tie your sandals up?!" Naruto raged.  
"Don't forget Shikamaru!"  
"It doesn't take that long to wake him up! Sakura's been going crazy! She thought a strange slightly paedophilic guy with a vampire fetish had kidnapped you!"

Sasuke turned to give the pink haired girl a withering look.  
"Is he serious? Where on earth did you think that one up?"

Sakura refused to meet his gaze, her face red with embarrassment.  
"You were the one who was late" she grumbled.

* * *

Ino stared at Shikamaru. He had a couple of leaves sticking out of his ponytail.

"You fell asleep in the middle of the road didn't you?"  
"Actually it was a ditch"  
"Wow, you were pretty close with that one Ino" Choji commented, munching on a packet of crisps.

* * *

"Alright, go into that hut to get your scroll and pick a gate!" Anko yelled to the candidates. "And don't forget to sign those consent forms!"

"Why are we doing this again?" Naruto asked. The crazy-lady's talk about death insurance and the set up of this survival test had wavered his confidence somewhat.

"T-To escape from Cyclops" Sakura said, a slight shake in her voice. There was a loud screech from inside the fenced off are and she, along with several other girls others squeaked with fright

"W-What was that? Was that one of those man-eating things she told us about?"  
"I-I dunno… Sasuke, what do you-" Naruto broke of at the sight of his friend. He seemed to have turned a paled green colour; _'just focus on the schedule'_ he was mumbling to himself. _'It can't be that bad. Itachi was lying. It can't be that bad'._

Naruto decided to leave him to it.

Looking around he could see the other teams from his year reacting in a similar manner.

Ino looked positively sick at the mention of the words _'deadly insects'_. She didn't mind the _'poisonous plants'_ so much. They made up half of her compounds defence system, and were part of the Yamanaka battle style. She'd probably be fairly interested in examining a couple.

The bugs however, were another matter entirely. She hated bugs at the best of times for their activities in eating her plants. They had absolutely ruined that tray of lilies she had been trying to cross breed with a breed of poisonous blue roses. Judging by the forest itself, these bugs weren't going to vulnerable to bug spray.

Beside her, Shikamaru had frozen at the mention of the man eating animals and was mumbling the word _'troublesome'_ over and over again. Choji had completely stopped eating when the proctor had informed them that some plants would not be suitable for human digestion, and a look of pure horror had crossed his face.

* * *

Sasuke, having regained his mettle a bit, turned to look at Karin again. She was standing with her team-mates, arguing over how to cook the animals they would likely run into. She caught his gaze and grinned in what he perceived to be a slightly perverted manner before turning back to her team-mates.

He smirked.  
Naruto's cousin was definitely interesting.

* * *

Naruto turned to look at Kiba and began to wonder if it wasn't someone under a Kiba-transformation again. Hinata was doing better with the news of the terrors of Training ground forty-four than he was! Shino seemed a bit agitated at best but that was about it.

He turned to look at Gaara.

He didn't seem phased in the least. Instead he was giving him a curious gaze. Naruto completely understood that at any rate. Who on earth was this Suna kid who had shown up out of nowhere? What was it that he had sealed inside him? Naruto had many questions for him, but those would have to wait until this survival test had finished.

As the thought crossed his mind the crazy-lady began to speak again.

"Alright, now that you've all got a scroll, head to one of the entrances to the forest. You begin as soon as the gates open!"

* * *

Morina slumped down in one of the plush chairs next to one of the Jonin from Suna. How on earth had Karin managed to blow her cover after just a few hours? And in front of the worst possible people too! Oh, that girl was going to get it when she got out of that forest!

As she contemplated all the ways she could make the girls life a misery she felt two gazes on her. Raising her head to look round the room she caught sight of two people she had not expected to see. She pressed some chakra into the communication seal on her wrist (different to the one on her back) and waited. Moments later she felt the two familiar chakras connecting with her own.

'_Itachi! Shisui! What are you two doing here? Aren't you two in ANBU?'_

'_I could say the same to you Morina!' _Shisui replied hotly. _'Why didn't you tell us you were here?! You disappear of the face of the earth for ten years and then just pop up again?! You've got some explaining to do!'_

'_We're undercover.' _Itachi replied much more calmly than his cousin. _'Extra defence. Thanks for the heads up about the invasion by the way'_

'_Just doing my job. I had a run in with your brother this morning, and Shikaku's kid. They were bullying Karin for information, so be careful with what you're saying around him'_

'_It's a bit late for that' _Shisui grumbled. _'Little brat knows almost everything about the invasion at the moment. He overheard the gits planning everything. We already erased his memory once but he heard them again! How do you anticipate that? Oh, he knows who Naruto's parents are too.'_

'_Dear god, you boys can't do anything right without me around can you? How's your mother Itachi?'_  
'_Her giddiness is making me ill. Chidori is the light of her life already…'_

'_Chidori? She knows Kakashi's technique? I thought her second nature was earth?'_  
'_It's the name of his little sister. She was born yesterday Lady Mikoto decided Kakashi was wasting the name on his assassination technique so she stole it'_  
'_Your mum had another baby?!'_

'_You sound just like Naruto when Sasuke told him'_ Itachi commented.  
'_Like you can talk, Ayame had to drag you onto her sofa for the night because you got so drunk'_  
'_You got drunk? And who's this Ayame? Do you mean Teuchi's daughter?'_

'_You should have seen it when Teuchi chased him down the street in his boxers! It was the funniest thing I've seen in years!'_  
'_Shut up Shisui!'_  
'_I think you boys had better bring me up to speed, I seem to be missing a lot…'_

'_You shouldn't have dropped off the face of the earth for ten years then'_  
'_Shut up lover-boy'_  
'_Have you told your mother you're back yet?'_ Shisui asked. There was a long horrifying pause.

'…_Oh shit! I completely forgot to leave her a note when I left! She's going to kill me!'_  
'_Who was it who couldn't do anything with out their team-mates again Shisui?'_  
'_Shut up!'_

There was another pause, filled with her team-mates' amusement before Morina disturbed it once again.

_'What's the sexy teachnique?'_

Itachi didnt even bother to keep his laughter contained, and the sight of the famed stoic prodigy bowed over from laughter gave several jonin reason to shudder. Morina, once again, felt very confused.

_'Am I missing something?'  
_

* * *

Team seven sped into the forest almost as soon as the gates were open wide enough to allow passage through them. They managed to avoid a large group of flying leeches, but the screams of the Kusagakure ninjas who had entered from the next gate up informed them they hadn't been so lucky. They thanked their lucky stars they had a better knowledge about the territory than the foreign teams.

It meant they had a head start on making out of this forest alive. Despite the dangers, some of the sights of the forest really were amazing. They came across a rare fruit tree (thankfully a non-deadly one) and quickly stocked up when Naruto said that any fruit they could dry could be sold to traders for as much as a upper level C-Rank. Sasuke and Sakura thanked Inochi and Ino for teaching Naruto about some of Konoha's native plants; had he not they would have missed out on an easy few hundred Ryo.

There were strange birds including a brightly coloured parrot whose bill was chiselled to narrow points, like teeth, that floated through the trees like multi-coloured ghosts. That was less friendly and the animals followed them eerily until Sakura got so freaked out she threw a smoke bomb of her own creation at the thing. They sped through a clearing of tiny white, sickly scented flowers until they were certain they had out run the animal.

This brought them to their current location. They were in yet another clearing, and sunlight streamed through the unusually thin branches of the canopy above. It was all in all a very nice place to sit down and have some rest. Or it would have been.

Naruto and Sasuke stood staring at the scene in front of them with a look of pure horror across their faces.

"S-Sasuke is that…?"

"I-I think it is… but…"  
"How the hell did your roof tiles get in here?!"

In front of them, in amongst a pile of leaves and mossy twigs, was a small pile of roof tiles off of Sasuke's house.  
One jerked involuntarily.

"Holy shit! It moved Sasuke! It moved!"  
"I can see that Naruto!"  
"Roof tiles don't move Sasuke! That's just not possible!!"

There was a scream that they recognised as Sakura's. Looking around they noticed the girl was nowhere in sight. That was strange. Shouldn't she be blowing her head off with them? Ever since she had tried to prove Sasuke's roof wasn't what they said it was she had joined the _'Anti-Sasuke's-Roof club'_.

"Err… where did Sakura go?"  
"Why are you asking me?"  
"You're the one who has a crush on her!'  
'I don't anymore! And she's your fangirl!'

There was another scream.

"Maybe we should have waited another six months…" Sasuke grumbled. Naruto didn't answer he was too busy staring at the nest in horror. Sasuke, who had been expecting a reply of some kind turned to poke him in the arm. Naruto didn't look at him, but pointed a trembling finger towards the nest. Sasuke looked towards the nest and let out an undignified squawk of terror as Naruto grabbed his arm and dragged him back the way they had just come atop speed.

"T-They have teeth! Lots of them! Snapping teeth! Naruto my roof tile mutated into land piranhas!"

Indeed, the roof tiles had mutated into small creatures similar to land crabs. They didn't have pincers or eyes, but they had three rows of very sharp slate teeth. The scurried about on three sets of stubby little legs, snapping their jaws at anything thy came into contact with. At that particular moment, they were heading towards the two boys.

"Shut up and Run Bottom-Boy!!"  
"This isn't the time for nicknames fishcake!"  
"Hypocrite! You called me fishca- OW! IT BIT ME!!"

"Kill it! Kill it!"  
"Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!!!"

* * *

Sakura stared at her two male team-mates. They had been standing in the middle of these stinky flowers for some time now, and they hadn't moved an inch.

"Err… Guys? Are you oka-"

All of a sudden, Naruto of all people, turned towards Sasuke and smashed their lips together. Sasuke stared wide eyed for a few moments before grabbing hold of the blondes shirt, pulling him down onto the ground with him.

"What the hell?! This isn't the time for you two to be coming out! Hey! are you two listeni-" Sakura eyes bulged as Sasuke wrestled Naruto's coat off him, their lips only leaving the others long enough for Naruto to remove Sasuke's own t-shirt.

"Oh no! No, No, No, No, No…" realising neither boy could hear a word she was saying Sakura turned around to run away until they finished up. Like many girls, she had her share of Yaoi fangirl-ish-ness, but her two team mates were not included on that list particular list!

To her horror, she found herself unable to move at all. Her entire body was paralysed where she stood. She couldn't move so much as one finger! She couldn't even blink!

Sakura screamed when Naruto began fiddling with the zip on Sasuke's trousers  
"OH HELL NOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

"Sasuke, something is very wrong here!"  
"You don't say!"  
"No, I mean your grandmother's frying pan has joined the roof tile snappers!"  
"What?! Please tell me your joking!"  
"take a look be hind us if you dont beleive me!" sasuke did as instructed, and nearly tripped of a tree root.

"Shit, What the Hell?! This is just too damn weird! This is just some freaky nightmare! It has to be!"  
"Precisely why I think this isn't real!"  
"Of course it's real! You have the bite marks on your arm to prove it!"

"Then how are these things even moving?" Naruto whined, desperate for this nightmare to be over. He did not want to become food for a colony of mutated roof tiles. That was just the saddest and the most undignified way to die possible.

"It's probably a kind of Animation Technique! You can animate a corpse right? Why not roof tiles?" Sasuke stated, though he had to admit, his explanation was a very weak one. Why mutate roof tiles when you could do the same thing to something like shuriken? That would be far more useful. Though the roof tiles were causing them a lot of grief at the moment…

"I though that too, but I don't think it is! I think it's a hallucination! remember those stinky flowers we passed running way from Mr. Stalker-Bird?"

There was silence between the two as they struggled to keep ahead of the snapping tiles.

"Oh hell, that means we cant just dispel it doesn't it?" Sasuke grumbled loudly, jabbing one of the tiles with a kunai.  
"Exactly! We'd have to stop breathing for fifteen minuets for it to stop working!"  
"Urgh, which mean Sakura's got the same problem as us, that's a pain. If this was an illusion she could have dispelled it…"

"Either way we have to get back our senses somehow" Naruto growled in a worried tone. "Remember what crazy lady said about man-eating animals? What do you want to bet there are man-eating flowers in here too?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched maddeningly.  
"I am not going to be flower food! Damn it all, I knew we should have waited another six months! This is all Kakashi's fault for giving us false hope!"

* * *

"N-Naruto! T-There!"  
"S-Sasuke…!"

Sakura whimpered. Inner Sakura screamed in horror.  
'_I have to get away from here before I get killed by those stupid plants! This all that freaky stalker-parrot's fault! Oh, I hope Sasuke and Naruto have figured it out! I can't dispel something that isn't caused by Chakra!'_

* * *

"Wait! Don't go near those plants Choji!" Ino yelled before Choji could get too close to the clearing.  
"Eh? Why?"

"They're carnivorous!" she clarified. Shikamaru stared bug eyed at the small clearing filled with little white flowers.  
Choji dropped his crisps in shock.

* * *

_**I'm sorry to those who don't like Yaoi, but my Inner Fangirl broke out of her box and threatned me with pointy knives and sporks. Besides, I couldn't think of anything else to torture sakura with... This chapter was so much funnnn! I love torturing them! It's so adorable!**_

_**In response to reveiws, Thank you so much! I'd reply directly but I'm a technophobe and I'm not entirley sure how to do that without wasting space in the autors note.  
I hate that!**_

_***Cough* Hypocrite *Cough*  
Shut up Museykins! *Whacks with plastic hammer***_

_**Ahem... So yeah... **_

_**Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I love you all! Cookies for everyone! Unless you'd rather have Yaoi...  
For whomever asked (Sorry, can't find the email alert with the name in, sorry!), Sasuchii is Sasuke, Itachin is Itachi, and Mandarin is Madara. Naruto is... **_

_**Can't actually remember what Naruto is, he's whatever pops into my head.**_

_**Am I the only one who think's Mandarin is freaking hillarious? In a twisted, debatable-sanity way?  
He's the fucking shiz! The Moon! Its freaking hillarious!  
Or am I just twisted?**_

_**Whatev, Reveiw!  
Dont forget the vote on The SasuFemNaru either, I think I've made up my mind, but I'm leaving the poll open for a while longer. Vote!!  
Love to Mandarin Fans! Bask in his hillarious insane logic! Love to Non-Mandarin fans too!**_

_**Natarii  
xxx**_


	14. Digestive Issues Of The Flora And Fauna

**_I don't own Naruto (I really can't be more imaginative with this anymnore... T_T)_**

* * *

"_Wait! Don't go near those plants Choji!" Ino yelled before Choji could get too close to the clearing  
_"_Eh? Why?"  
_"_They're carnivorous!" she clarified. Shikamaru stared bug eyed at the small clearing filled with little white flowers. Choji dropped his crisps in shock._

"But they're so small!" he argued. "How can they possibly eat anything other than flies?"

"They paralyse you with their scent, it's a hallucinogen. All your senses get warped and malfunction. While you're frozen, the flowers themselves secrete a powerful digestive liquid from their petals. They're actually really useful with digestive problems, but like this they're just a death trap." Ino informed them. Choji stared at the flowers aghast.

"They're really rare; I can't believe they're even growing here! They're native to the southern mountains of Lightning Country..."  
"Wow, thanks Ino. That was a close one" Choji wiped the sweat that had been gathering on his forehead.

If he'd taken just a few more steps…

"I guess well have to find another way to the river now…"  
"Yeah, I'll posses another bird so we can get our bearings" Ino agreed.

Shikamaru cleared his throat.  
"I think we have another problem before that"  
"Eh? What?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru pointed to three shapes lying amongst the flowers.  
Their faces were obscured from view, but the blobs of yellow, black and pink mad their identities obvious.

"That idiot! How did he not notice?! My dad drilled all this into his head ages ago! I know they're rare, but they're not that rare! Just because they aren't a native plant doesn't mean they don't grow here! I meant, its definitely surprising but-"  
"Never mind that, how on earth do we get them out of there?" Choji asked. While he didn't know the three members of Team Seven as well as the other two, he didn't want them to be dissolved by the digestive juices of these freaky plants.

"I could try the mind-body disturbance… make them walk away from the flowers, but that'll take all of my chakra. I can only do it once…" Ino bit her lip contemplating whether using the technique would be of any use. She didn't even know if it would work.

"Let me try using my shadow first, then we'll try it your way Ino" Shikamaru said, forming the hand signs for the technique he was about to use. His shadow stretched out across the small, delicate little flowers towards the three bodies lying amongst the flesh-eating flora. The shadow connected with Naruto's own successfully.

"Ok, now for the hard part" Shikamaru said to himself. He forced his thoughts into his chakra enhanced silhouette and concentrated on Naruto's.  
'_Make him walk, make him walk, make him walk…'_

A dazed Naruto slowly stumbled up into a sitting position. After a great deal of concentration from Shikamaru, he began a stumbling walk towards team ten. After a few minuets Naruto was safely out of the patch of beautiful white monstrosities.

Shikamaru released Naruto from his shadow from Naruto's, and the boy flopped into Ino's waiting arms. Unfortunately, he was heavier than she had anticipated and she fell over from the weight. She pushed him off her so she could examine his injuries. Thankfully he didn't seem to have been unconscious long enough for the flowers dissolving agent to take effect, he'd have jump in the river soon though. There was bound to be some still working on him somewhere.

As she examined Naruto, Shikamaru worked on pulling Sasuke and Sakura out of the flower field. He was sweating from the considerable effort he was putting forth. Choji was amazed at his best friend's ability. To manipulate another through shadow usage without using your own actions as a base took considerable effort and skill.

Shikamaru collapsed gasping for breath the moment Sakura and Sasuke were out of the danger zone. He had hardly any chakra left. That was a bit of a downer but he was more worried about Naruto and his two team-mates.

No wonder those weirdoes form Sasuke's family weren't bothering trying to kill Naruto during this part of the exam, even the here flowers were deadly! They were counting on the second stage saving them the hassle and killing him for them! All those plans for the third stage were just a precautionary measure!

As he took gulps of water from a bottle Choji handed to him, Naruto began to come around from the effects of the brutal blossoms.

"Urgh… I feel sick… am I being digested? Damn flowers…" Naruto mumbled to himself. He could see something pale yellow hovering above him...

Was that god? Was he already digested?  
He opened his eyes fully, blinking back the sleepy sensation.

"Naruto! Thank god for that!" Ino yelled.

Naruto sat up groggily.  
"What…? Those flowers! Sasuke and Sakura are-"  
"They're fine, Shikamaru pulled you out with his shadow" Ino said reassuringly.

Naruto looked around, getting his bearings again. They had passed this area before; the patch of killer flowers was close to here. He was sitting on the ground, Ino kneeling next to him. Choji sat some distance way with an exhausted looking Shikamaru, watching over Sakura and Sasuke. Judging from the grumbles and mutterings they were beginning to come around as well.

"What were you thinking going anywhere near those things? You know how dangerous hey are…" Ino berated gently.  
"By the time I realized what they were we were already running from the piranha roof tiles…" he grumbled to himself. Ino gave him a perplexed look.

"Piranha roof tiles?"  
"I'll tell you later" he said, looking over to Sakura and Sasuke.

He got to his fees somewhat shakily and made his way over to his team-mates. Ino placed one of his arms around his shoulders before he fell over and he smiled at her gratefully. They both made their way over to the other two members of team seven who seemed to have finally come around.

Sasuke bolted up right the moment he awoke yelling about mutated piranhas before he was hit by a wave of vertigo.  
He would have fallen backwards again had Choji not caught him.

"Where did they go? What about the frying pan?" he asked turning to Naruto.  
Naruto was not given a chance to answer as Sakura had chosen that moment towake up:

"Naruto! Sasuke! This isn't the time for you to be ravishing each other! We have to get out of here!"

They all stared at Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke looks of horror on their faces. There was a long silence as Sakura regained her bearings.  
"What the hell were you hallucinating about?" Ino asked.

Sakura turned bright red.

* * *

After thanking Ino's team for their help (several times) team seven headed towards the river to wash off. Ino's warning about the digestive juices was a very good incentive to wash. It was slightly awkward at first, for Sakura kept seeing her hallucinations every time she looked at either of her team-mates, and Naruto and Sasuke were both embarrassed for screaming like girls at the sight of Sasuke's roof tiles.

Eventually, they managed to get past this and were soon planning on how to find another scroll to go with their heaven one. However, riding themselves of any dissolving juice was their first priority. This was where Naruto now found himself. Sakura had gone to wash further upstream - there had been some arguments over this from both boys. Sakura wanted to preserve her modesty, but Naruto and Sasuke weren't to keen on the idea of her travelling to far away.

Not that she was weak (they had permanent bruises from her fists than spoke for themselves), but after the carnivorous plant incident they didn't think it was such a good idea to split up. Eventually they had settled for letting her upstream, but had insisted she take some exploding tags to use as a signal for trouble. Sasuke had left to go back the spot they had arranged to meet at, leaving Naruto to finish up with some exploding tags of his own for the same purpose as those given to Sakura. Naruto scrubbed at his skin with one of the plants they knew to contain natural soaps to remove the _'yucky-dissolving-plant-sick'_, in Sakura's words.

As he scrubbed, he felt the sun go behind a cloud form its absence of warmth on his back. Turning to look up to check for possible rain (that would just be taking the biscuit) he found something else blocking the sun's rays instead.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched in irritation.  
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me…"

All Naruto remembered before everything went black was trying to reach the shore and something long and slimy wrapping itself around his body.

* * *

Sasuke swore again as he jumped up onto another tree branch to dodge another set of shuriken. He could see Sakura pressing herself against the trunk of another tree not too far away, trying to remain inconspicuous. Everything seemed to have been going pear shaped since they set foot in this place.  
Sasuke was sure this was somehow all Kakashi's fault.

One minuet he and Sakura had been waiting for Naruto, the next they were running for their lives from some weird bloke who _rearranged his face_ right in front of him! He has literal removed his nose and hacked a bit of before reattaching it! The guy was flying around on top of a _really big_ rhinoceros beetle, flitting about the trees throwing shuriken all over the place. The big blue bug had nasty-looking pincers and it was taking all their energy just to stay away from the thing!

Never mind trying to find Naruto, who was distinctly absent. Sasuke hoped the idiot could look after himself, because he and Sakura were having enough problems of their own just trying to keep away from the freak who had been masquerading as their team-mate.

* * *

"I think we should stop here, its getting dark and this place seems to well sheltered" Shikamaru said, jumping down from a tree branch into a small clearing surrounded by shrubbery.

Ino and Choji followed suit and they silentley began to make camp. Choji worked on setting up a small camp fire, whilst Ino and Shikamaru made use of their family defence systems to secure the area from any unwanted trespassers.

"We're going to need something to cook; something small so that the smell doesn't attract too much attention" Choji was thinking of the man-eating-eveythings that inhabited the forest.

"You mean like a rabbit? Ino asked, pointing at a small group of the furry animals hovering just past their defences. Shikamaru, who was starving thanks to using so much chakra earlier that day, seemed to be moving purely off of survival instinct as he lunged towards the animals.  
They immediately bolted as one of Ino's creeper plants snagged him around his ankle, sending him face forward into the dirt.

"…fucking troublesome hunks of meat… Ino! Get this thing off me!" he yelled trying unsuccessfully to remove the chakra enhanced vine.

After a fashion, Shikamaru was chasing their dinner again as Ino searched for a supply of fresh water. Choji was given the duty of protecting their base camp. Neither of his team-mates worried too much of his being attacked - he possessed some of the best offensive techniques in the village after all.

* * *

Shikamaru was beginning to dislike the small furry creatures known as rabbits; They were damn sneaky little buggers!  
He couldn't catch any of them!

He was somewhere in the middle of a man eating forest with severely depleted chakra, and he was chasing deranged little hyperactive mammals who seemed intent on getting him lost. Something they were very close to accomplishing; you could only look at so many trees in here before they all started to look the same. Shikamaru swore loudly as he fell to the dirt yet again after missing the animal by a hairs breadth. This wouldn't have been a problem if he could use his shadow technique, but he needed to conserve his chakra.

Looking after deer with his father had also left him with a weird sense of morality when it came to catching animals. He would not lay a trap for an animal that could not defend itself. If it had sharp pointy teeth, then by all means he would make a trap. Rabbits however did not have sharp pointy teeth, so laying a trap for them seemed morally wrong to him. It wasn't a fair fight...

Though the idea was beginning to look very appealing at the moment; some of the bolder little freaks were giving a strange glare and bearing their gnashers at him threateningly.  
Maybe using a trap wouldn't be so bad just this once…

Shikamaru lunged again.  
Shikamaru fell face first into the ground again.  
This time it was wet and sticky.

All sorts of possibilities ran through his mind ranging form quicksand to goat brains. He jerked his head and spat out some of the sticky stuff from his mouth. It tasted like mud. Upon wiping the goop if his face (specifically his eyes) he came to the conclusion that it _was_ mud.

Vowing his revenge on the deranged critters that had landed him in such a position, Shikamaru looked around for a prospective meal. He was next to the river that ran through the training area, specifically near the bank. A pile of familiar clothes could be seen on a nearby rock, and Shikamaru looked around for his blonde friend.

"Naruto? Oi, Naruto!" he yelled.

He received no answer. Turning away to once again pursue rabbit homicide, Shikamaru ignored the pile of clothing. The blonde was probably washing of that digestive stuff from those stinky killer flowers earlier. A loud crash behind him caught his attention and he whirled around to see two pivoting yellow eyes.

Oh no… Surely not?  
Shikamaru glanced at Naruto's clothing, and then back at the massive reptile standing in front of him looking like it had found its own dinner.

"You can't be serious… this is just beyond a joke, this is just fucking catastrophically troublesome! How many times can one person be eaten in a day? This is just sad!"

* * *

Naruto was not happy.  
Why was Naruto not happy?

Because something was trying to eat him for the second time in one day! What did the flora and fauna live off in this place anyway?! Were they so desperate for food they would all compete to eat him?!

Naruto decide to concentrate on getting out of the giant chameleon that was currently trying to digest him. He wasn't quite sure how to go about this however; He had never been in a situation that had required him to escape from an animal's stomach before. Those flowers didn't count - they'd tricked his entire team with illusions whilst they began to gobble them. It was completely different!

Getting back to his current dilemma, Naruto listed all the techniques he knew.

Substitution? That would be no help unless he wanted to substitute himself with the reptile's liver.  
Rasengan? He couldn't even control the first stage, let alone the whole thing.  
Illusions? There was nothing to befuddle, and the most his illusionary arts came to was a dispel seal.

Transformation? Who the bloody hell was he going to hide from in here? Bacteria?  
Physical Arts? They would probably give the animal a stomach ache, but they wouldn't get him out.  
Shadow Clones? It was his best option.

"You can't be serious… this is just beyond a joke, this is just fucking catastrophically troublesome! How many times can one person be eaten in a day? This is just sad!"

Oh no! Did Shikamaru get eaten too?!  
No, Shikamaru was too smart to get himself eaten, which meant he was nearby...

He was saved!

"Laaaaazy Aaaaassss! Help! Something's trying to eat me again!" he yelled as loud as he could, which wasn't really that loudly.

That proved to be less than beneficial. For one thing the animals hide appeared to be too thick for Shikamaru to hear his pitiful scream, and for another, he had used up a lot of the valuable oxygen that still remained in the chameleons smelly throat hole. Naruto felt the throat muscles surrounding him constrict and found himself being pushed downwards. A sloshing noise further down told him he was getting dangerously close to the animals stomach acids. That wasn't good.

Hurriedly he stuck to kunai to the bottom of his feet with his chakra and rammed them into the side of the animal's throat just before his control gave out. It wasn't a permanent solution; he could already feel the kunai slipping around thanks to the bile and other sticky stuff present in the creature's throat. However, it would do for now.

Naruto formed a cross shaped seal with two fingers from each hand, and muttered the chakra release: "Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto pushed as much chakra into the seal as he could, and soon the tight space was stuffed with Naruto's. They didn't last long though. Those below him soon disappeared and Naruto swore with frustration. He was too close to the stomach acids sloshing below him! That left him no other option but to use a type of clone he wasn't very confident in using just yet.

Grumbling to himself, Naruto took the same two fingers he had just used on each hand and formed them into yet another cross-shaped seal; just before he released his chakra, he added another hand-seal - an 'X' shaped one.

Naruto prayed to the gods this would work as one clone appeared. He hurriedly willed his chakra to cover his entire body, acting as a shield somewhat, and waited for his technique to take effect.

* * *

"What kind of fucked up forest is this?!" Suigetsu yelled as he hacked yet another carnivorous plant to pieces.

"Who the hell breeds these things?! How the hell did they get so big?!"

Juugo ignored him in favour of communicating with one of the few normal birds inhabiting the forest.  
Karin sighed as Suigetsu continued to swear and curse.

"Some are normal plants that reacted to the high concentration of chakra in the area, what with so many ninja running around nearby and all. Some are plants native to fire country, but a quite a few of them are some of Kabuto's early creations" she informed her furious team-mate.

Suigetsu swore even more loudly, if such a thing was possible.

"Why do all my problems have to start with Kabuto?! Who killed Mangetsu? Kabuto Did! Who turned me into a freaking human puddle? Kabuto did! Who made these god forsaken Plants? Kabuto did! Why the hell is Kabuto responsible for all this crap?!"

"Because that was Kabuto does" Karin snorted. "He enjoys making peoples lives a misery. He thinks its _fun"_

Suigetsu ignored her and continued to hack at an offending looking plant.  
"Those are just weeds" Karin informed him.

Suigetsu swore again.

Juugo chose that precise moment to interrupt them:

"The birds say there's something evil in the woo-"  
"No duh" Suigetsu said sarcastically.

Karin and Juugo gave him a withering look.  
"It's Him, _Kabuto_. He's here" Juugo finished.

This time it was Karin who swore.

"Shit! He must've been hiding amongst the other candidates! Did you get an idea of what he's doing?"  
"He's currently engaged battle with Sasuke and Sakura" Juugo informed her.

"And Naruto?" Karin asked, panic edging into her voice.  
Juugo wondered if telling her Naruto had gotten himself eaten by a giant chameleon was the best idea at the moment.

* * *

Sakura was making a great effort not to breathe any louder than necessary, but that was hard considering she and Sasuke had been trying to run away form the Creepy-Beetle-Man for almost twenty minuets now. Focusing on lowering her breathing to the absolute minimum so as to create less noise, she waited for the man and his disgusting bugs to pass by the bush she was currently hiding in.

After making certain he hadn't passed her, she thanked the gods for her luck and ran out, and jumped up onto the tree branch Sasuke currently occupied. She placed one finger to her lips, motioning for silence, before weaving a series of hand signs.

She pushed all her chakra out into the surrounding area, avoiding Sasuke as she did so. When she was certain her Illusion was complete she took in several long gulps of air.

"What the hell is he?! He rearranged his face dodging a freaking fireball!!" she breathed, not daring to raise her voice more than necessary. She didn't doubt that whoever this freak was would be able to unravel her illusion with absolutely no effort at all.

"Never mind that for now, what do we do? The way I see it we have two choices: stay and fight, or run and try to find Naruto" Sasuke replied, his own voice barley a whisper. He knew that running and trying to find their team-mate would be the best option, but he got the feeling that Bug-Man wasn't going to give up that easily either.

Sakura was about to reply to him when he saw their enemy hovering behind Sakura, a medical syringe with a nasty looking purple concoction inside it. He pulled Sakura out of the way just in the nick of time.

The man brought his arm down towards the area she had just occupied, only for his aim to land in the tree. The bark of the trunk turned a sickly yellow colour before bursting into flames. The two Genin stared wide eyed at the sight and then at the empty hypodermic in the grey-haired-pony tailed man's grasp.

"Now why did you have to move her?" the man asked in an injured tone. "I spent months developing that, now I don't even get to test it!"

"Shut up! Leave us alone!" Sakura yelled at the man throwing a kunai towards him. The kunai slided right through him and Sakura eyes widened in panic. He was using Illusions as well?! But Sasuke's Sharingan would have seen another Illusion! What was going on??!

The man appeared again, this time aiming for Sasuke with a green, bubbling liquid. She pulled him down, rolling off of the tree branch to avoid the blow. She saw abnormal looking growths emerge on the branch above where the liquid had hit.

"Sasuke, can you see his illusion?" she asked.

Sasuke shook his head, hand fingering a kunai as he looked around, looking for some sort of clue that might help them. Sakura wracked her brains. He was using an illusion, he had to be. He couldn't just pop up from nowhere like that! But then, how was he able to hit the tree with those funky potions?

Was he using a combination art? That might explain it, but it didn't explain why they couldn't pick up on his illusion-half of the technique.  
Sasuke's sharing should be able to see through it! They would have felt any fluctuations in chakra since the illusion was spread over such a wide area, but there had been nothing. The only illusion in the area was her own and tha-

"Sasuke help me dispel the illusion I just made!" she yelled, hurriedly forming a dispel seal and forcing in as much chakra as she could.

Sasuke shook his head in disagreement.  
"He already knows where we are! Dispelling all that would be a waste of chakra! We need to find out how he's-"

"Stop fucking around and do as I say unless you want to be tuned into a pile of organic-mush by this creep god damn it!" she yelled, still forcing chakra into her hand seal.

"That asshole is using _my_ illusion and _my_ chakra for _his_ technique!" she spat.

Sakura was very angry with the illusion-chakra thief.  
That was just plain rude! He should use his own brain and chakra god damn it!

Sasuke, perhaps shocked by her uncharacteristic outbursts, obeyed and formed his own seal and began to push as much of his chakra as he could into it. Sakura waited for a few more seconds until she felt they both had enough before relasing her chakra with a loud yell:

"DISPEL!!"

Sasuke shouted the same chakra release barley a second later. The world around them swirled and Sakura grabbed onto Sasuke's arm, feeling dizzy at the sight of the swirling colours surrounding them. After several moments, the swirling rearranged itself into an unfamiliar territory. The trees seemed to climb for an eternity, almost completely blocking out the dim light that remained in the day. The ground was hard and parched of water like a desert.

They were completely lost, and neither Naruto nor Bug-Man was anywhere to be seen.

* * *

"Lady Anko! Please take a look at this!" a Chunin yelled as he ran up to the second examiner. Said examiner looked up from her plate of Dango.

"Hm? What?"  
"T-This!" The Chunin handed her several photos and Anko's eyes narrowed.

"We found the body just a few miles outside of Konoha! There were multiple bite marks with a blue tinge! Upon examination of the residual chakra traces, we have determined that Kabuto Yakushi is responsible!"  
"I already know. Go tell the Hokage though. He'll want to be informed so he can send another set of extra ANBU just in case" Anko ordered, taking another bite of Dango.

The Chunin stared at her as if she was some sort of crazy woman.

"Don't look at me like that! The Hokage is already aware of Kabuto's planned attack, he ordered that he and the councillors be informed when his presence was verified! Trust me; I think it's incredibly stupid even for that old geezer!"

Truth be known, she was itching to dive right into the exams and rip his psychotic little head off. However, the Hokage insisted that the back-up he had deployed already would be more than enough aid. Anko wasn't so sure, this was Kabuto they were talking about after all, but she obeyed her orders.

She only hoped that this extra back up would be enough to stand up against her former team-mate.  
He wasn't in the bingo book for no reason.

She would be patient for now however.  
But if Kabuto harmed one hair on the heads of her maggots she would have him hung drawn and quartered personally.

As this thought entered her mind, a sparrow fluttered out of the trees contained within the fence behind her. Recognising the markings, she held out her hand and the small bird landed on one of her fingers. The bird relayed its message as it hopped back and forth across her hand and Anko's eyes widened.

"I told him this was a bad idea!" she yelled, starling the small creature. "Go to the Hokage! Tell him we have an emergency situation in training ground forty-four! Now! Anko yelled before she disappeared into the forest herself.

* * *

Shikamaru stared at the chameleon in front of him. It was huge! It was as tall as his house! True, his house only had one floor but chameleons weren't supposed to get that big! Since when did Konoha have the appropriate climate for chameleons anyway? They were native to Swamp County!

What was the thing even doing here?  
Was it lost?  
It wasn't wearing war-paint, so it wasn't a summon…

Why was there a man-eating chameleon in Konoha?!

Whatever the reason, the large lizard was eyeing him in a very uncomfortable manner. Shikamaru decided his best option would be to run, but if this thing was anything like a normal chameleon, it'd have that freaky tongue thing going on. He'd have to keep an eye out for that, and that meant running backwards. Shikamaru wasn't good at running backwards on flat ground, never mind in the middle of a forest. He didn't even consider using physical techniques or weapons since they would barley scratch the cold blooded animal.

In short, he was in quite the predicament.  
As he came to this conclusion, the chameleon opened its jaw.

"Shit! Forget running backwards I'm getting out of here! Sorry Naruto, you're on you're own here! It'd be a pain in the ass for me to turn into lizard food!" he yelled as he made to run as far as he could as fast as he could.

Shikamaru felt the tremors in the ground as the creature lumbered after him slowly. Due to its sheer size compared to the young shadow-tamer that meant it was catching up fairly quickly. He cursed his lack of speed and stamina as the creature ambled closer. As soon as he got out of this forest (Read: _If _he got out of this forest) he would brow beat Naruto and Asuma into giving him two full workouts each a week!

There was a nasty-sounding squelching noise; turning around this was proven the beginnings of the animal's tongue unravelling. Shikamaru made a silent prayer to the gods that by some miracle he would be saved. This was was seemingly granted as a muffled cry came from within the beasts belly before all hell broke loose.

* * *

"I didn't expect him to actually infiltrate the Chunin exams" Sarutobi grumbled.

He had greatly underestimated his student's former pupil. He had never imagined he would move out into the open so quickly. Kabuto had always been a measured, cautious ninja who never took gambles unless he was sure they would pay off. Obviously that had changed.

"It's not your fault Sarutobi, the news Morina unearthed said nothing about how the invasion would begin. Just that he was planning one. We were expecting a sudden attack, not a covert operation"

"That's not what worries me Jiraiya, what worries me is why he chose to go undercover as a Genin. What possible gain could he receive from that?"  
"Isn't it obvious?"

"Well, yes, but I thought I'd try a little optimism and hope I was mistaken"  
"Sorry, but I think we can safely say he wants more test subjects" Sarutobi sighed, leaning back in his chair wearily.

"I suppose I'll just have to send as many ANBU as I can spare for no-"  
"Damn it woman! Will you let go of my hair?!"

Sarutobi and Jiraiya both blinked.

"Jiraiya, just now was that…?"  
"It definitely sounded like him but-"

"Quit laughing at me you- OW! I said let go!"

This time the voice was accompanied by the sound of uncontrollable laughter. Moments later, the door opened revealing the owners of the voices. A woman with scarlet coloured shoulder length hair strode in the room dragging a pale skinned man behind her by his long black hair. Behind them came a heavily endowed blonde woman making no attempt to hide her amusement, and a younger woman with black hair carrying a pig.

"Must you insist on rupturing my eardrums Tsunade?" Orochimaru grumbled as Kushina relinquished her hold on his hear, causing him to stumble forward slightly. Tsunade laughed further as he rubbed the sore spot where Kushina's hold had almost torn his hair out by the roots.

"How can I not?! You, Orochimaru of the legendary three, defeated by a woman's glare! Oh this is priceless!!" Tsunade managed to muffle out around her laughter. Orochimaru gave her a smirk.

"Oh? And who was it who agreed to come along when the same woman won over 12,000,000 Ryou in one poker game in exchange?"

Tsunade turned beet red.

"Shut up Pedo!!"  
"You shut up Slug! And how many times do I have to tell you I am not a paedophile?!"  
"As many as it takes for you to admit it Snakey"  
"Shut up Tsunade! Jiraiya! Control this woman!"

"What? But, well… you do kind of look like one, what with the creepy skin and eyes and the tongue thing…" Jiraiya babbled, caught off-guard by his team mates demand- err, plea for help. Why was Orochimaru here? He'd said wasn't coming...  
Screw orochimaru, why was _Tsunade_ here?!

"Damn you! You stupid lecherous frog! You aren't supposed to agree!"  
"Hey, I'm a_ Toad_ Sage! You wouldn't like it if I called your Snakes Salamanders or Lizards would you? No, so stop calling my Toads Frogs!"

Tsunade chortled even harder at the sight of Orochimaru's twitching eyebrow. It looked like things were about to escalate into one of the rather destructive arguments the students of Sarutobi were so famed for when Kushina grew tired of their little quarrel. She moved between the two males and gave each a severe whack to the head.

"Ow!"  
"Ow!"

Tsunade looked like she was going to collapse from laughter until Kushina glared at her. Not another hoot was heard from her mouth after that.  
Kushina turned to Sarutobi and grinned.

"I brought you home two strays I found on my travels Sarutobi!" she said before moving to hug the old man.

After succeeding in suffocating him her mind to more serious matters.  
"Two questions: one, is Teuchi's still open? Two, how's Naruto?"

Sarutobi knew better than to lie to her, but he cursed whichever god had landed him with this job.

"Teuchi's expanded a couple of years ago. Its called Ichiraku's now. And as for Naruto, well… he got himself eaten by a giant chameleon on the first day of the Chunin exams" Sarutobi braced himself, waiting for calamity to befall the room. When it didn't come he was puzzled.

"Is that all? No pranks? No nothing bar getting himself into a pickle with his writing? Dear god, I'll be having more than a few words with that boy when I see him…" Kushina trailed of mumbling to herself. Various words such as _'stupid Inochi'_ and _'serious damage control'_ could be heard.

"Kushina, Kabuto infiltrated the Chunin exams" Jiraiya informed her, breaking her off from her chattering to herself. Kushina raised an eyebrow.  
"I already know that baboon, were you expecting a direct attack or something?"

"Please, Kabuto isn't brave or vulgar enough for that" Orochimaru scoffed. "Insane or not, that boy severely lacks a backbone. He has to be certain of his own safety before even considering anything risky. I have no idea why he became a ninja in the first place…"

Sarutobi nodded at this but he stared at Kushina for her apparent disregard for her son's safety. Kushina seemed to pick up on this and mimicked Orochimaru's scoff.

"If Naruto is anything like me, then he'd rather die than be eaten by a _chameleon_, of all the things…"

Kushina snorted at the very idea as she turned to leave the room.  
"Honestly, a _chameleon_? Why couldn't he have at least been gobbled by one of those tigers? A chameleon doesn't even have_ teeth_!"

"Kushina, where are you going?!" Sarutobi yelled as the woman closed the distance between herself and the doorway.  
"I'm putting my name down next to Kakashi's on the greeting list! I have some serious words for that boy… C_hameleon_…" he voice faded as she walked through the doorway almost as quickly as she had appeared.

Sarutobi groaned ad for once, he let his head slump onto his desk.  
"I give up…" he mumbled.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. Tsunade became hysterical once again. Orochimaru gave a soft chuckle.

"She certainly moves at her own pace doesn't she?" he said to Jiraiya.  
"I'm more interested in what she deems dangerous. Remember when Minato and Deidara were almost eaten by a giant cave bear during their Chunin exams? Koharu was beside herself"

Orochimaru nodded as Tsunade laughed at their old teacher.

* * *

Shikamaru was very confused. One minuet he had been rooted to the muddy ground at the prospect of becoming chameleon lunch, next moment all hell broke loose. There was a loud fiery explosion, and Shikamaru was thrown backwards towards by the force it exuded. He now found himself sprawled on the muddy ground covered in god know what.

Shikamaru struggled to his feet and took a look at the surrounding area. The chameleon lay splattered, burning, and in chunks about him.  
Not even the trees had escaped.

Needless to say, that also meant Shikamaru had been splattered with chameleon-gunge. He looked down at his clothes and wrinkled his nose. He was covered in mud, chameleon innards and some unpleasant smelling reptilian bodily-fluids. He brushed a gungy what looked suspiciously like brain matter off his shoulder and removed a piece of tongue from his head. Shikamaru made a mental note to avoid giant chameleons from now on. Not only did they view humans as food, they seemed to spontaneously combust.

Messily.

Or they did when they decided that Naruto Uzumaki would be a particularly edible morsel. The blonde lay propped up on his elbows, looking slightly dazed and slightly triumphant.  
"Ha! Take that you great stinking lizard!" he yelled at a larger chunk of flesh that hung from a nearby tree branch, smoking.

Shikamaru moved to join his friend on still-wobbly legs, taking care to avoid a large ruptured eyeball that oozed its contents across the ground.  
"What on earth…?" he said, collapsing next to Naruto. Naruto seemed to notice him for the first time and he grinned happily before gluing himself to Shikamaru.

"Lazy Ass! I knew you were too smart to get yourself eaten!" Shikamaru decided to keep his momentary state of statue-mimicry to himself.  
"What on earth…?" he gestured to the chaos and gore surrounding them.

"Did you expect me to settle for Death-By-Lizard-Gastric-Fluid? Hell no! That's such a _lame_ way to die!" Naruto said in a disgusted tone.

Really, how would that look on his death certificate?

_NAME: Uzumaki, Naruto  
__AGE/D.O.B: 13/10th October  
__SEX: Male  
__RANK: Genin  
__CAUSE OF DEATH: Eaten and digested by a giant chameleon._

Really, his mother would disown him if ever died in such a pathetic manner.

Naruto was jerked out of his musings by Shikamaru, who was enquiring as to how he blew up a giant lizard.

"I used an Exploding Clone, I think I over did it a bit with the chakra though…" Naruto looked at the decimated area a sheepish look in his eyes.

"It was one of the variants of the shadow clone technique in the forbidden scroll I borrowed from the old man for training before the exams started." he explained looking around, trying to get an idea to his location. This was where he was supposed to meet up with Sasuke and Sakura.

He hadn't heard them earlier, only Shikamaru. That meant they had moved off somewhere, and that was worrying. Paranoia was not the word for it, especially after that flesh-eating-flower fandango.

Something had happened.  
There was a bad feeling knotting itself into worry somewhere between his intestines and his stomach.

* * *

"I used an Exploding Clone, I think I over did it with the chakra though… It was one of the variants of the shadow clone technique in the forbidden scroll I borrowed from the old man for training before the exams started…"

Naruto trailed off, obviously thinking about something else that was more important.  
Shikamaru was unaware of this. He was too busy freaking out inside his head.

'_Who in their right mind gives Naruto a scroll for training when it has exploding clones in it?! That's just a really troublesome disaster waiting to happen! The Hokage must be going senile… Yeah, he's old so it's not really his fault… Sort of… He should think about retiring now that he's loosing his brain a bit…'_

Both boys were interrupted from their respective thoughts by the sound of a long, terror filled scream they could identify as Sakura's. Moments later it was accompanied by an outraged yell form Sasuke.

They immediately sped in the direction that voices had emerged from with no thought to the consequences that would be brought by their actions.

* * *

**_Update-No-Jutsu!  
I think you can se the sadistic streak in me breaking out in this chapter...  
Don't know why, but ive always been facinated by Chameleons._**

Cookies for Reveiws!  
Nat.  
xxx


	15. Drugs & Pride: Shikamaru and Sasuke

**_I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

_Both boys were interrupted from their respective thoughts by the sound of a long, terror-filled scream they could identify as Sakura's. Moments later it was accompanied by an outraged yell form Sasuke._

_They immediately sped in the direction that voices had emerged from with no thought to the consequences that would be brought by their actions._

Sparks flew as Sakura grated her kunai against the one creepy-beetle-man was forcing towards her. She focused her chakra into her arms and with great effort managed to push him backwards, avoiding what would have been a fatal blow. The smirk that had been stretched across her face faded when the man disappeared in an odd swirling motion.

She swore loudly, in a manner that would have made Naruto proud had he been there to witness it. She hurriedly formed a dispel seal with her hands, and swore again when nothing happened. Concentrating on her chakra, she willed it with all her might to stop flowing for the briefest of moments.

The effect was instantaneous. The gloomy surroundings of unfamiliar and dodgy looking plants disappeared and Sakura found her self on what appeared to be a sort of overhang in the river. A roaring noise behind her jerked her consciousness to notice the dangers of her surroundings.

_'He tried to drive me off a fucking waterfall!_' she yelled mentally, too flabbergasted to actually display her thoughts vocally. She was standing waist deep in the middle of the current! If she had taken any more steps back, she would be dead! She thanked god that she had noticed before taking any more steps backwards.

"You managed to dispel it? Damn, I was hoping to use your body for my experiments"

Sakura froze and felt her eyebrow beginning to twitch; Oh, she was definitely going to castrate this guy! Not only had his illusion caused her to loose track of Sasuke (never mind Naruto), he had stolen her chakra and her illusion, and he had almost forced her off the top of a waterfall! The man was officially at the top of the personal blacklist that would come with the bingo book when she finally bought one! Right at the top!

_'If I don't die first at any rate ...'_

Sakura screamed as the creepy-beetle-man swerved towards here, flinging several shuriken dripping with something Sakura only knew would not be good for her health. She somehow dodged the attack and stared at a nearby tree, which had to begun to bubble and his angrily where one of the dripping shuriken had pierced its bark.

_'This guy is a freaking schizo! What the hell was that?!' _Sakura hid in some nearby foliage that did not seem especially deadly. She pulled out several shuriken of her own with one hand whilst the other formed a one handed seal.

It was much harder than using both hands to form her chakra, but she needed her dominant hand to defend herself should it be required (which it most likely would be). She thanked the gods she had looked over that extra scroll on illusions before heading to the academy.

Sakura watched with bated breath as her illusion took shape. Another version of herself burst from the bushes of her own location. Sakura watched as the fake version of herself yelled at the man for stealing her chakra, and after feeling satisfied he was distracted enough, she took the opportunity to head back towards the last place she had seen Sasuke.

She was halfway back when the creepy-bug-man swirled up out of nowhere. Sakura screeched in surprise and threw a mass of shuriken as she jumped backwards from the man. Much to her surprise, one of the shuriken actually scratched his cheek.

_'It... Actually worked? It actually worked! Hell Yeah!'_

"I must admit, for a Genin your chakra control and illusion skills are _extraordinary_" creepy-bug-man said toughing the tips of his fingers to his cheek, and examining the blood now present on the digits.

"You would be a phenomenal opponent in the future should you pursue it and become a medical ninja. Unfortunately for you, that is why I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen" he finished with a maliciously eager look and lunged towards her.

Sakura made to dodge but found herself frozen to the ground. After a millisecond of concentration, she could feel an unfamiliar chakra covering her entire body.  
_'Is he keeping me immobile with his chakra? That's impossible! The control needed alone would be phenomenal!' _

Sakura struggled to find a solution for her predicament as creepy-bug-man quickly advanced in her direction. She tried forcing her own chakra out through her fingers like the Hyuuga Jyuuken, but only succeeded in bursting the ends of her fingers open painfully.

Creepy-bug-man gave an appraising smirk as he began to get close to what she would call too close. Sakura tried forcing her body to move again. Her physical strength was, to be blunt, pathetic but it was still worth a try.

"I refuse to be killed by a creepy-chakra-stealing-bug-man!" she yelled, focusing her chakra in her muscles as bug-creep grew closer still.

* * *

"I wish we'd camped closer to the river..." Ino grumbled to herself as she edged around one of the nastier plants in the forest.

"It'd save a whole lot of trouble and we'd have a good indication as to the direction of the tower" Ino crawled along the underside of a thick tree branch to avoid the slithery tentacle the plan was using to search for a tasty morsel.

"I wish I knew who planted these things; I'd love to wring their freaking neck..." Ino stabbed a stray tentacle that had come too close for comfort. The tendril seemed to cringe away and retreat to a safer area and Ino breathed a sigh of relief. She jumped across onto another branch before climbing down the trunk it grew from.

She landed unceremoniously on her behind and hissed from the sudden pain. She was getting clumsy from the lack of food. She was loosing her strength. She had used a whole load of chakra with the Mind-Body Disturbance getting a heaven scroll from some creepy Iwa ninja too.

"I hope Shikamaru doesn't let his morals get in the way of dinner..." she grumbled as she picked herself up and dusted of the back of her skirt.

Trudging through the forest in her search for water, her thoughts strayed back to Naruto. She could not help but think about the strange reaction he and that creepy sand kid had when they shook hands.

Their chakra had responded to similarities they shared. That was odd; it was only experienced through drastically similar emotions or experiences. The only instances she knew of had been between her father and her aunt Yoshino. They were twins, though not identical, and had had formed a close mental connection through that.

Naruto had never been out of the village before the disastrous mission to wave country. He had never met that... Gaara person before. He should never have had such a strong reaction to him upon their first meeting. Even weirder, had been both their reaction afterwards.

_"You… You're like me?"  
__"They don't run from you? Why? Don't they know you're dangerous?"_

How did he know about the Kyuubi? What did Naruto mean? Did that sand kid have something stuck inside him too or was she just being paranoid?  
_'Naruto had that face on when he said that… The one he uses when people talk about the Kyuubi'_

Ino was wondering whether she should ask Naruto about the incident when she felt it; it was _vile._

She could feel the bloodlust, the desire for the feel of flesh being ripped form bone, to feel bones crunching, the pure evil. It mad her feel cold all over, but it was anything but a cold malevolency. It was a ferocious burning one; it prickled her skin, nibbling as if to see if she was worth eating. She felt sick. She wanted to run.  
Every bone of her survival instinct was raging and screaming _'run'._

Ino did not know how she knew that was not an option.  
Abandoning her search for water, she headed in the direction that the brutal unforgiving chakra came from/

_'Please don't be Naruto...'_ she prayed internally.

"You Bastard! What the hell did you do to him?!"

* * *

Sakura found her remaining reserves of chakra to be pitifully low. It only lasted a moment before she was forced to stop trying to force herself free from the statuesque situation. Bug-Man stopped a few meters away from her (20 meters was too close, this was way beyond that where bug-creep was concerned) and pulled three of those shuriken leaking god knows what from his holster.

She barley saw them being thrown. She found she was able to close her eyes, and scrunched them closed as tightly as she could, waiting for the impact. All of a sudden, she felt something crash into her side sensed the whirling motion of those unnatural shuriken flying over her head. A new surge of chakra entered that of creepy-bug-man's and it disappeared.

She opened her eyes and sat up to find Sasuke standing next to her. Any previous ideas she had had about not showing her fear to that creep were gone as she shrew herself onto him.

"Sasuke! That, I was so scared! He kept making illusions, and I couldn't find you! I couldn't move, and the tree! It bubbled! I couldn't get his chakra off me and..." anything else she had to say was drowned out by the sound of her sobs.

Ignoring any sort of pride he had, he put his arms around her in a comforting gesture, however his own shaking hand suggested his time had not been particularly enjoyable either.

He said nothing for a while before he said: "Everyone... They had been... they were dead! Naruto, Ino, my family, Shikamaru, you, everyone! They were ripped to pieces… I don't even remember how I dispelled it…"

"What about Naruto? Where is he? Did you see him?" she asked, still sniffling into his shirt.  
"I don't know... we have to find him, get away from this freak..." Sasuke said pulling her with him as he stood up.

They were in what seemed to be a well-hidden area of thicket, and Sasuke pulled his team-mate along behind him as he forced his way through the thick and eerie undergrowth. He looked around frantically, senses tightened to a point of snapping at any minute event. She could see the famed bloodline in his eyes swirling, looking for anything that posed a threat just as frantically. They seemed different from normal...

"Sasuke! Something's wrong with your Sharingan! It looks different!" Sakura cried.

Sasuke froze and turned to her stunned.  
"What do you mean? My eyes feel fine"

"The design around the pupil is different..." she said taking a closer look at the swirling formation. "There are two of those dot thingies..."

Sasuke blinked at her before giving a sigh of relief.  
"Finally! That explains how I got rid of that sick illusion earlier..." he said to himself.

He noticed Sakura's questioning look and smirked, regaining a small amount of his pride.  
"It's nothing to worry about, it just advanced is all," he said reassuringly.

Sakura smiled, giving a small sigh of relief.

"I wouldn't relax so soon kids" a familiar voice hissed, eerily amused by their small display of reassurance.

Both team-mates stood back to back, trying to find the location of the bug-creep. Sakura used what little chakra she had recovered to disguise their location with another illusion. It would be weak, but it would give them a chance to run.

That was their best option.

Sasuke was searching with his newly evolved eyes for the freaks chakra, but it was like it didn't even exist! Maybe his eyes weren't up to it yet? The guy was obviously far more advanced than they were; maybe he needed to advance his Sharingan to the third level to see it properly. It wouldn't surprise him for the freak to have some sort of drug to hide his chakra altogether either.

Sakura screamed then, and he felt her moving away from him. Turning around, he saw her running towards the body of their third team-mate. Sasuke immediately followed suit, rushing past the girl. He could see Naruto's chest rising up and down. He was still breathing! As he grew closer he noticed that the edges of Naruto's body seemed to flicker, moving against each other.

_'This is like that illusion earlier!'_ he realised their mistake as Sakura joined him.

Her grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back ignoring her protests.  
"What are you doing?! That's Naruto! Let go!" she tried to pull his hand of her arm with her free hand.

They struggled for a while before Sasuke realised it would probably be easier to just tell her the truth.  
"Sakura, that's not real! It's a trap!" he yelled. Sakura's eyes widened before narrowing.

She swirled around glaring up at the canopy.  
"You... you sick bastard!" she hissed in a growling voice.

Sasuke could feel her chakra growing in the fist he couldn't see. She was obviously planning some form of retribution, but that wasn't the best idea for them. The best idea would be getting the fuck away form this guy as fast as possible. But that would only be successful if the knew which direction to avoid. They had no idea where this guy was!

"Sakura, calm down!" he hissed over his shoulder. They were somehow standing back to back again. "We have to get away from this creep! There's no way we can fight him!"

Sakura stared over her shoulder for a moment in astonishment, before apparently regaining her senses and nodding.

"It's a little late for running; you should have fled instead of chatting"

Heads swerved, searching for the man's voice. Sasuke looked up to see the man actually flying! He was sprouting bug wings!  
_'What the hell is this creep?!'_

The man seemed to be aiming for Sakura with one of those vials he had been throwing around earlier. More concerned with his team-mate's safety than his own, he pushed her to the side with enough force as possible, forcing her further from the man and whatever sickening concoction was contained within the hypodermic. The force was enough to render her unconscious as she hit the ground.

Sasuke hurriedly formed the seals for the fireball technique, gathering as much chakra as he could. Before he reached the last seal, he felt his body freeze.

_'Shit! He was waiting for this!'_ he struggled to force his body into action, refusing to admit it was a futile effort.

Sasuke stared as the man grew closer, needle outstretched towards him glinting gleefully. Sasuke braced himself for the impact. Whatever was in that thing he would not let it win him over. If Naruto could keep the Kyuubi in line (most of the time at any rate) then surely he could handle a puny little drug?

"Oh no you don't!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at the familiar voice. Shikamaru pushed his frozen body to the side as the needle came within inches of him. Too late to stop his movement, the newly dubbed beetle-head plunged the needle directly into Shikamaru's chest, injecting its contents into the boy's blood stream.

Sasuke took barley a second to regain his bearings, but the sight of Shikamaru drooped over bug-man's shoulder - still full of metallic injection - made his blood run cold.

* * *

Naruto watched with disbelieving eyes as Shikamaru pushed Sasuke out of harms way, throwing himself into it. His eyes narrowed as he watched the boy slump over glasses-head's shoulder, needle still lodged dangerously close to his heart. His eyes turned a malicious red when glasses scoffed, giving Shikamaru a distasteful look, before hurling from his person into a tree trunk.

Shikamaru seemed to be breathing, but the noises he was making told him it was strained. Whatever glasses had done to him was seriously messing with his insides. The gave a gut wrenching scream, voicing whatever agony he was experiencing, and began to writhe on the floor of the forest.

Glasses-Head stared at him or a moment, a surprised look on his face, before breaking into a bout of insane hysterics. Cold, cruel laughter echoed through the area, and he noticed Sasuke also flinched at the sound.

"Well, this isn't what I was expecting, but I think this will prove much more interesting…" he chuckled to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be another vial of what he has infected Shikamaru with, before turning to Sasuke.

"It makes me wonder what effect it would have on one of the Sharingan bearers" he leered at Sasuke, leaping towards him, manic laughter issuing from his lips.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sasuke tried pushing his own chakra out through his pres, pushing against the madman's own holding him in place.

Then everything turned red. Naruto appeared from nowhere, growling and feral in appearance, and smashing into the creep. Then Sasuke felt the chakra. He knew what it was; it was the Kyuubi's chakra. It felt evil, twisted, malicious, and generally unpleasant. Those words did not give the feeling of it any justice.

He could see it bubbling over Naruto's skin, and biting at their attacker's skin as the boy punched him in the face. He lunged at Naruto, who dodged the blow and appeared behind him, clawed hand poised for striking.

Bug man (he really needed to find what this freaks name was, bug man did not exactly sound intimidating) dodged and Naruto's hand bit into the earth instead of the man's head. He growled and turned on the man bearing his elongated canines

"Well, this is a new development" the stranger noted, an eerie smile spreading across his lips. Sasuke felt his finger twitch as he continued struggling against the chakra bind.

"You forced me into retracting some of my chakra from your team-mate, not even the illusion girl managed that"

Naruto let out a low ominous growl, poised on al fours like an animal. Sasuke was finding moving easier now, though he still could not get his feet to move. After the freak had taken his chakra back - was that even possible? - he'd found overpowering the remains with his own to be successful, albeit infuriatingly slow.

He could hear the man laughing at them, and Ino's voice echoing through the woods as she seemingly drew nearer.

Naruto lunged at their enemy once again as he drew another vial from his shuriken pouch. Naruto saw the action and moved to avoid it, only for the man to disappear in a flicker. Naruto stiffened then, and fell to the ground clawing at his stomach, screaming, any influences of the Kyuubi completely gone.

The air behind him wavered and the exhausted looking freak warped back to reality. Illusions! He hadn't even noticed, even with his new Sharingan. Just how strong was this man with the art of illusion?! For a Sharingan to be duped was unheard of!

"You are quite interesting," the man noted, watching the boy writhing on the ground. "I haven't had to use that technique in a long time. That chakra of yours… it reminds me of that belonging to a certain demonic fox"

Sasuke's eyes widened. It was one thing for the guy to fight Naruto in Kyuubi form, but to know about the fox was an entirely different matter! It was supposed to an S-Class secret, known only to higher ranked Jonin and above unless Naruto himself informed them.

Did that mean this guy was from Konoha? Was he a renegade? If he was then why hadn't the hunter-nins caught this guy?! He was clearly a menace!

"I wish I could stay, but my presence here has become known" he spoke to Naruto. "But I hope you'll enjoy my little present.

Naruto seemed to manage a momentary glare before whatever pain he was experiencing had him twisting and jerking once again. The man sprouted those creepy bug wings from his back once again and took the air; Sasuke felt the man's chakra disappear completely and he rushed to Naruto's side.

"Oi! Idiot, don't you dare die on me!" he ordered, trying to pick up anything out of the ordinary on him. He couldn't see anything… He opened up his jacket and pushed up Naruto's shirt to examine the seal. Kakashi had made them all study it whilst they recovered at Tazuna's house before returning to the village.

He was by no means an expert, but the Sharingan might be able to pick up something. He pushed aside Naruto's shirt and sucked in his breath. Something was moving underneath the skin of the seal mark, bubbling almost, and the seal itself was an angry brownish-red.

"What the hell did you do to them? Who are you?!" he roared at the man, now some distance above their heads. He pulled out two kunai and flung them at him, aiming for his wings. The man dodged easily.

"I just left them a little present, Sasuke"

Sasuke stiffened. He sure as hell had not told the man his name.

"Who the hell are you?!" he yelled again

The man gave another of those eerie smiles.

"Kabuto"

* * *

Sakura groaned as she awoke, feeling like one of the barrels on the spice traders' street had hit her. She remembered that creep coming towards her with one of his vile mixtures and Sasuke pushing her out of the way…

She jerked into a sitting position only to be hit by a wave of vertigo  
"Whoa! Not so fast billboard!" Ino took hold of one of her arms, steadying her. Sakura reached a hand up to the back of her head and winced at the contact.

"You hit your head pretty well" Ino gave a half-hearted grin  
"What happened?" Sakura asked, looking around.

The landscape looked withered, burned, and dead. A familiar malignant feeling was present in the area.  
"This is the Kyuubi chakra!" She gasped "Ino, what happened while I was out?!"

Ino frowned, and avoided Sakura's gaze as she replied.

"To be honest I'm not sure, Shikamaru got injected with something, and he's burning up, but I couldn't find anything else wrong with him. Naruto… Sasuke says that Kabuto guy hit him with something that's messing with his seal, and he wouldn't stop yelling for ages…" Sakura softened at the worry present in her friend's voice, but instantly felt her own creeping up on her.

Looking around she could see Shikamaru leaning against a tree, seemingly having trouble breathing. Sweat was pouring of him, and Sakura summarised he it was taking all his self-control not to scream from the pain he was experiencing. He also looked like something had exploded all over him.

Sasuke was hovering beside a similarly sticky lump of orange, not bothering to disguise the concern on his face with his usual frown. Sakura could hear the blonde boy mumbling incomprehensible growls and snarls to himself, twitching occasionally.

Sakura vowed that when they got out of this forest, she would make sure Kakashi was watching when they burned his precious porn.

"Ino, we should get going; Choji's probably going crazy by now" Shikamaru said, pointing to the almost inky black sky.  
"No! I cannot leave Naruto here when he's like this! And you're in no condition to move!" she objected loudly and strongly.

What the hell was the stupid Nara thinking?!

"Sasuke and Sakura can take care of him Ino, and they have more experience with the Kyuubi stuff than we do. We'll only get in the way so what's the point in staying?"  
"And helping is the only way we'll get experience Shikamaru!" she replied hotly. "I'll contact Choji while you rest and-"

"Damn it Ino, you think Naruto'll be happy if you fail this exam because of his freaky shit?! You are acting like a lovesick bimbo right now! You know Naruto would tell you the same thing!" in turned to stare at Sasuke, before her eyes dropped to the ground.

He was right; she was acting like those foolish girls who had stalked Sasuke instead of focusing on becoming proper female ninja who could kick serious ass. Naruto would be disgusted to see her acting like this, especially because of his _'freaky shit'._

He'd murder her if she didn't do her best to get through this exam, whether she had wanted to take part in the first place was a null point; she had chosen to take part of her own free will. If she really did not want to take part, she could have told Asuma-Sensei when he told them he was signing them up.

She had to put her all into this, and she was not doing that right now! Even if she did not really want to enter these exams, she wanted to show him just how much she could do!

"Shikamaru, get on my back! I'll carry you! There's no way in hell you're walking in that condition!" she said loudly, marching over to a stunned Nara.  
"What?! No! I can walk by my sel- Let go of me you pain-in-the-ass woman! Leggo!" he frantically tried to pull himself free of Ino's grasp as she manhandled him onto her back.

"Ino will you put me down! I am not a freaking invalid! I can walk! This is so humiliating damns it!" he yelled as Ino marched out of the clearing, ignoring his protests.

Sasuke and Sakura simply stared at the no less than odd scene that was being preformed in front of them.

"Damn it woman, are you listening to me?! I can fucking walk! Let me down!"  
"Shikamaru shut your trap before I make you shut it! And do not think I won't, because I will! You are not walking when you can barley breathe!"

"Do I sound like I can barley breathe?!"  
"Still not walking!"  
"You are the most troublesome woman I have ever met! You hear me?!"  
"Yeah, I hear you Cuz, I think everyone one in the forest can hear you!"  
"PUT ME DOWN!"

* * *

Choji gawped as Ino stomped back into their camp with an irritated and slimy Shikamaru on her back.

"I don't think they'll hear us now," Ino panted, falling onto her knees.

Shikamaru slumped off her back, almost instantly seeming breathless. His body wracked itself with pain and he finally let out the scream he had been withholding, one hand clutching the area that had been penetrated by the needle.

"Ino, I think you'd better tell me what happened…" Choji stated, in shock, before rummaging around in his equipment pouch for the basic field aid kit.

Ino considered lying for a few moments, but decided it would not be fair; Shikamaru and Choji were cousins of each other as much as they were hers, and they were almost as close as Naruto and Sasuke. Choji deserved the truth, or as much of it as she knew.

"Alright, but make yourself comfortable and be prepared for a lot of headache-y feelings" she stated, handing him a washcloth from her own supplies.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the small piece of chakra-reactive paper in his hand and sighed.

They had taken shelter under the large root network of a non-lethal looking tree several hours ago. Naruto had since stopped yelling and mumbling, but his temperature had just increased. The seal seemed to be back to normal, but has willing to bet there would be repercussions for that later on.

Sakura was quietly snoring, her head laid on his shoulder. Normally he would have shoved her off without a care, but after that incident with that Kabuto creep, he did not really have the heart to do so; she deserved the rest at the very least for her efforts.

He looked back at the small square of paper in his hand. It was covered in the complex black ink of a warning seal. He could barley make out the strange symbols on it. Unlike what Iruka had taught them, this particular seal used a completely different style of writing; it was impossible to understand it.

It reminded him of Naruto's. The boy had a strange habit of adding his own symbols to the kanji when he made his own exploding tags, and for some reason they always packed more of a punch than his own.

He had always thought that was to make up for his language inadequacies, but thinking back to his encounter with Karin before this mess of an exam had started clicked both instances into place.

- - - - -

_"Take this" the redhead said, handing him a small square of paper covered in strange inky writing._

_Sasuke gave Naruto's supposed cousin a look of confusion; Shikamaru was staring at the strange writing forms bug-eyed, earning confusion from his companion. __Sasuke supposed this was because the girl had whipped up a fairly complex seal in the space of two minuets in front of their noses. He presumed she must be competent in the art to be able to accomplish such a feat; his own seals left a lot to be desired. The manufactured ones made them seem as if a toddler had created them instead._

_"That's the Namikaze rune style!" Shikamaru gasped, staring closely at the scribbling on the paper.  
"Rune Style?" _

_Sasuke was perplexed. __He was adequate enough with seals to make his own exploding tags and such (badly) but anything beyond that was too much for his comprehension. __His father had stated he was not surprised; very few Uchihas had ever progressed with the art (even Itachi was only of a mediocre level), their thinking process was usually too linear for a subject requiring a flexible thinking._

_"You know how sealing varies from person to person?" _

_Sasuke nodded._

_"That's because of each persons individual chakra tendencies; chakra tendencies run in families, which is why you and I can't do anything more than the basics. Our chakra has never been suited to seals, especially with our linear thinking patterns." shikamru explained._

_Sasuke nodded somewhat hesitantly - it tied in with what his father had explained to him easily enough but…_

_"That still doesn't tell me what makes a rune style so amazing, or what it is"_

_"Geez, you have no patience! Certain clans with the mentality and chakra advantages have their own style for the creation of the seals themselves; the paper make up, the type of ink, and the written translation. The Namikazes in particular completely re-worked the translation process in their sealing - they formed a completely new language for it, and a completely different writing style. That incomprehensible scribble is the Namikaze style"_

_Sasuke was a bit dazed by this information; surely that was taking a bit far?_

_"Ok, rune style understood. Why is this one so amazing then?"_

_Shikamaru look a bit stumped with this for a few moments before asking the girl (who seemed to be sniggering at his inadequate seal-knowledge) if he could have an exploding tag. She gave an inquiring look before handing over another piece of paper decorated with the unfathomable scrawl._

_"Compared with our own seals and manufactured ones, Namikaze seals are smaller, more secure and they pack more of a punch," he stated. _

_Shikamaru wrapped the unusually small piece of paper around a kunai handle before handing it to Sasuke.  
__"Push some chakra into that and try throwing it," he instructed._

_Sasuke did as asked and expelled chakra into the seal before hurriedly hurling the kunai several meters away to avoid being blown up. __He frowned when nothing happened, and picked up the kunai once again._

'I must not have used enough; Namikazes were supposed to have giant reserves, and if it's handmade, it'll be different from the manufactured ones I use. So…' _He forced a great deal more chakra than was usually required - almost enough for a normal clone - into the seal. Before he could finish doing so, a bolt of crackling blue light coursed through his arm._

_"Ow!" he yelled, dropping the kunai in shock.  
_'That thing just electrocuted me!'

_"Alright, err, your name's Karin right? Can you do the same thing for me?" Shikamaru asked ignoring Sasuke's reaction._

_The girl nodded that irritating grin still on her face. She picked up the same kunai Sasuke had just dropped, but paused before throwing.  
__"How much chakra did you use the first time?" she inquired._

_"The normal amount for a manufactured one" Sasuke replied._

_She nodded and followed the process he had just gone through before throwing the kunai; the explosion that followed was twice the size of the ones generated by his manufactured ones._

_"Holy…" Sasuke could not even finish the statement of shock.  
__"You see the difference now? That because of the rune style. The Yamanaka's and Hyuuga's have their own too, but theyre nothing near the level of the Namikaze style." Shikamaru stated._

_"How come she didn't get electrocuted?" Sasuke asked._

_Shikamaru seemed to be running out of answers by the confused look on his face; apparently, it had something to do with that apparent nonsense wording._

_"The basic set up of a Namikaze exploding tag is that it will not work for someone out with the clan, or occasionally for anyone other than the creator." Karin stated, taking over the explanation._

_"It dissipates any un-keyed chakra it receives, and if you try to force more in it reacts as if you were an enemy ninja and electrocutes you, though that's dependent on which elemental nature the creator was more inclined to,"_

_She grinned.  
__"You're lucky I suck with wind chakra or your hand would have been ripped off too…"_

_Sasuke paled to a shade significantly lighter than his usual one. He could hear Shikamaru gulp; apparently, this was more than he had expected too._

_"And in any case, I'm only a beginner with seals. That shock should have at least paralysed you for a few minuets…I still can't get the defence symbols right for some reason…." she trailed off, seemingly irritated._

_Sasuke and Shikamaru both paled several shades with that revelation._

_"Anyways, the point is those weird symbols can do twice as much as any of the other styles and it's near impossible to learn. Remember that test on seal translation I the academy?"_

_Sasuke briefly remembered the mentioned test. Naruto had gloated for months over his poor grade, much to his irritation.  
It had been made all the worse since Naruto had come in first place._

_"Remember the ninth question?"_

_Sasuke did indeed remember the ninth question. It had been utterly incomprehensible gibberish to most of those in the class, and he had not even attempted to answer the question on it though it had been a simple identification. Only Naruto and to a lesser degree Sakura had successfully translated it - though Ino, Shino, and Hinata had given some close attempts._

_"It was gibberish," Sasuke stated._

_"Exactly; no one but a Namikaze can read those successfully. That seal style is what made Iwagakure hate Konoha so much - if written right, a Namikaze could suppress a full-blown Sharingan in a fight with only a piece of paper."_

_Sasuke wondered if his blood was perhaps pouring out of some unknown orifice. It must be; there was no other explanation for his rapidly paling face. __Suppress the Sharingan? No wonder the Uchihas either hated or respected the tiny clan! They were the only people that could genuinely give them a fight without the advantage of the Sharingan. __It boggled his mind somewhat to think that Naruto was part of this clan._

_"Can I get to the point now or are you going to turn him to a statue some more?" Karin asked, irritation re-appearing in her voice.  
__"Go ahead" Shikamaru replied lazily. _

_Sasuke fought the urge to twitch._

_"I can't be watching over Naruto as much as I want to in this exam, so I'm trusting you to do that form me. Even so, I know just what lengths your clansmen will go top to get rid of Naruto. If anything goes wrong, anything - I'm including broken bones and Kyuubi shit in this by the way - then push as much chakra into that seal as you can, and slam it on the ground. My team will be there before you can blink"_

_Sasuke gave her a curious stare as he took the tiny seal from her.  
__"You're undercover right? Why are you going to all this trouble to keep Naruto out of harms way when you've never even spoken to him?" he asked._

_He could understand family bonds, but he had grown up with his family. This girl had been living god knows where whilst Naruto grew up with substitutes for family instead of his real one. They didn't have that same connection, so why was she going this far?_

_"One of the Namikaze dogmas is that family comes before everything else, even our village. I have never spoken to him its true, but he is still my family - my cousin. That's enough."_

_- - - - -_

Sasuke frowned at the memory. While it was true that things had gone from insatiably bad to catastrophically worse since they had set foot in the forest, he was still reluctant to use the seal. From what he could tell (and that was nothing - he was using base knowledge from the academy) this seal could only be used once.

Sasuke did not know whether things had gotten so bad that they needed outside aid.

Karin had said she was only a beginner with seals herself, so he doubted she could tell them anything about what Kabuto-creep had done to the seal with his freaky concoction, and Naruto's state of unconsciousness derived from that so he doubted any medical knowledge would be of use.

He was certain that thing were not going to plan (an understatement if ever there was one), but part of him was hoping things would just work themselves out before he had to ask Karin for help. That would be so embarrassing, asking a girl for help.

He would never be able to do that!

What about his male pride? Didn't that get a say in this? How was he supposed to impress the redhead enough so she would consider a… date…? (The word was a foreign language almost) if he was the one asking her for help?

It was simply not conducive to his planning at all!

On the other side of the same coin however, he knew she would be of far more use to Naruto in this situation than he currently was.

Sasuke hated his pride.

* * *

_**Please do not kill me for the long wait! **_

_**I've been freaking out over my non-existent personal study for a while. Shakespeare is an awesome writer, and if the guy didn't wear a lace collar and look poncey I'd be a crazy fan girl, but does he have to make his metaphors so disgustingly obscure? **_

_**How do I write notes if I don't know what the notes are supposed to be about?! And the internet is useless since no-one wants to make an analysis on Sonnet 120... Anyone have one of those? I have two re-sits to do too, on top of an essay for a book I haven't actually read yet… And exam revision!**_

_**Well, with any luck the new chapter won't be too long, but like I said - personal study problems and general freakage in motion. And I've missed loads of work in psychology too… I don remember if its three or four weeks now, but I am so not looking forward to the lecture my tutors going to give me for that…**_

_**I have enough problems with my possible insomnia thank you very much!**_

_**Ahem. My apologies for the ranting; hopefully there will be updates in the future, but don't hold out for one - I have exams in a few weeks, so I really do need to study for once. Your reviews are greatly appreciated, and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**_

**_Nat.  
xxx_**


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